In the Wolves' Den
by omasuoniwabanshi
Summary: What happens one night when Saitoh notices an intruder in the Shinsengumi Headquarters? My take on how Saitoh met Tokio. COMPLETED. Please read and review!
1. Default Chapter

Author's Note: Warning – this story is pure unadulterated fluff. It has no redeeming 'moral to the story'. It is not 'deep'. It's written strictly for entertainment value. It will not be painstakingly historically accurate, and this will be considerably shorter and less angsty than my last story.

**Note to Wyrd – Please email me at omasuoniwabanshi "at" yahoo "dot" com ****and let me know where your original fiction story is posted. Fanfiction "dot" net deleted your reference to the website on your last review so I can't find it! They seem to have something against anything with a 'dot'com or a 'dot'net attached to it!**

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin characters or plot.

CHAPTER ONE

Saitoh leaned against the support post of the temple's main porch and stared at the closed front gate across the courtyard. He lightly tapped his sheathed sword idly against the wood planks at his feet. It was night, and he was bored.

Hijikata and Bureau Chief Kondo were both gone. Not that he missed them. Kondo had rebuked him just the other day for being overly harsh with the younger recruits during training. Kondo said he 'lacked sympathy'. Whatever that meant.

Saitoh smirked at the memory of Hijikata standing by Kondo, and nodding his agreement. It was Hijikata who'd come up with the draconian code for Shinsengumi members. The penalty for all infractions was to commit seppuku – ritual suicide by disembowelment.

And they thought he was harsh for training the young puppies to be tough? Joining the Shinsengumi was now popular with the young pro-shogunate warriors of Kyoto since the Shinsengumi had taken out several Ishin Shishi rebels during the Ikeda-ya affair. Problem was, their standards just weren't high enough. The new recruits were ignorant babies compared to Saitoh, and he had no qualms about letting them know it.

Some of them were even younger than Okita. Saitoh tensed as he heard muted coughing coming from Okita's room further along the porch. The boy coughed in his sleep now. It was just as well that the squad captains – Saitoh, Okita, and Shinpachi – all had private rooms in the temple grounds that served as Shinsengumi headquarters. The boy could cough at night without alerting all the troops. But Saitoh knew. Okita's coughing woke him, and now he was restless and couldn't sleep.

Nothing could stop Okita's coughing. Okita was dying. The boy didn't know that Saitoh had hunted down his doctor and demanded answers when Okita's 'cold' hadn't gone away. Aku Soku Zan, the Shinsengumi slogan, didn't work in a case like this. There was nothing Saitoh could do, so he gave Okita the illusion of secrecy he desired.

Saitoh dropped lightly off the edge of the porch to the ground, thrusting his sword through the obi of his sleeping yukata from force of habit. Even on the grounds of their headquarters, a captain of the Shinsengumi should never be without his sword.

Fragments of gravel dug into his bare feet as he crossed the broad expanse between the temple's main building and the gate set in the stone and plaster wall. The large wooden doors were closed for the evening, and he couldn't hear a sound from the two guards posted outside. He sneered. The guards were complacent even during the day when the gates remained open so curious onlookers could peer into the grounds. After all, who would be insane enough to try to break into Shinsengumi Headquarters?

The guards were mainly there to be sure the curious fools didn't wander in from the street, instead of merely gaping through the open doors. Usually onlookers scurried away whenever Saitoh glared at them, but there'd been an alarming number of young girls lately who loitered at the dry goods shop across the street, amusing themselves by staring and giggling at the squads at practice in the courtyard.

Those idiotic young recruits lapped it up, showing off for the ladies instead of paying attention to what they were doing half the time. And Kondo thought he was too hard on them. Humph.

Deciding to walk the inner perimeter of the walled precinct, Saitoh set off to his right, away from the gate.

The monks' side garden, left alone since the area was really too narrow to practice in, was quiet and still in the moonlight. Saitoh glared at it critically. There were far too many flowery shrubs for his taste. And that tree by the wall! Its branches grew right over the top of the wall and down the other side. The monks were slacking off in their gardening duties since the Shinsengumi had taken over most of their temple. He'd have to have a few choice words with them on the subject of duty.

Satisfied with his plan, Saitoh nodded to himself and continued on past the garden which faced his room and the other leaders and captains' rooms. The back hall serving as the regular troops' barracks was quiet, save for the snoring. Not for the first time was Saitoh grateful that he only had Okita's intermittent coughing to deal with. He avoided the monks' quarters and slipped lightly past the kitchens, bathhouse and other outbuildings to round the front of the main temple building.

Still not tired, he walked back and forth across the practice area, ignoring the gravel bits that dug into his feet. Eventually that grew boring as well, so he rounded the corner of the temple building and prepared to leap back up on the porch.

Hold on. Something was different about Hijikata's room. The shoji door was open a crack. Saitoh's eyes narrowed. It wasn't like Hijikata to leave his door open when going off on a trip, especially one to the Aizu family's mansion in the hills. Kondo had ties to the Aizu clan, so he and Hijikata went there periodically, and the trips always lasted several days.

Not only that, but Saitoh would have noticed if the door had been ajar when he'd retired for the night. The only time Hijikata left his door open was when he'd sit on the porch at his writing desk, working on paperwork. It always galled Saitoh that passersby could look through the open front gate and see Hijikata doing that, but when he mentioned it, Hijakata always smirked and reminded Saitoh that unless the pedestrians had the eyes of an eagle, they could only see that he was writing reports, not what he was writing in the reports. So Hijikata continued his bad habit, just to be annoying.

Was some raw recruit stupid enough to think that he could snoop in Hijikata's room while the vice-chief was gone? If so, he'd have to face the consequences. Saitoh drew his sword with the faintest whisper of blade against sheath, and stalked forward.

o-o-o

She hadn't been able to eat all day out of sheer nervousness. She was sure her grandfather would realize something was wrong when she didn't tuck into her food like she usually did, but he'd said nothing. Grandfather had become increasingly distracted and lost in the past. He didn't seem to notice their straightened circumstances half the time, wandering through the ruined, burnt wreckage of what had once been the family home and paper making business.

The fire had destroyed nearly everything. The business was gone. Father's workshop, the small brightly lit shed where he'd spent his days practicing calligraphy and the ink drawings that brought him such acclaim, was completely gone. It had burned down to nothing, and only a blackened patch in the compound remained where it had once stood.

Her father had died the year before the fire, but her mother…her mother had been inside the workshop when it burned.

Shuddering away from that memory, her thoughts came back to her grandfather. She wondered what he was doing now. Was he sleeping, or walking around the burnt out compound, carrying his father's old sword? The sword was one of their few possessions left over after the fire. She'd sold everything else they'd salvaged in order to buy food.

The two small rooms of the compound where she and grandfather slept at night were relatively untouched by fire, but ironically needed to have several paper panes in the shoji screens repaired. How funny that she, the daughter of one of the finest artists ever to put ink to paper, and granddaughter to the finest paper maker in Kyoto, could not afford to spend the few precious coins she had left on anything but food. There was simply no money left for buying paper.

Even the black hakama and gi she wore now – a relic from her grandfather's boyhood – were so worn and threadbare that no one wanted them. She should be grateful that she hadn't been able to sell them. She needed dark clothing for tonight. She absolutely could not be seen or caught; the shame of it would kill grandfather. She wondered if she should have brought his sword, but dismissed the thought quickly. Since the fire, grandfather never let the sword out of his sight. Besides, she didn't know how to use one. Oh, she'd been fascinated by it as a child, as she'd been fascinated by anything with parts that fit together.

She'd been caught tapping the mekugi pegs out of the skah/hilt one day when she was just ten years old. She thought for sure that she'd be punished, but grandfather had over-ruled her parents and sat down beside her on the tatami mat and calmly showed her how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble a sword.

But he'd never shown her how to use one.

Grandfather's own father, a ronin samurai, had taught him, but grandfather's son (her father) had no interest in swords. Her father had been born with a clubfoot and limped his whole life, so joining a dojo was out of the question. Even grandfather had to give up swordplay when a cholera epidemic swept through their area of Kyoto and took his parents.

Grandfather set aside his father's sword and threw himself into his mother's family business, as duty demanded. The Takagi family made the best paper in Kyoto. Tsutomu Takagi, her grandfather, not only maintained their reputation, he built on it. His son's success as an artist merely enhanced the family name even more. The Takagi family may not have been samurai, but Takagi was the name her grandfather's samurai father had taken when he wed the Takagi's only child.

To have a family surname at all was an honor not many merchant families were granted, and it had taken a lot of effort and bribery to the local daimyo to get it. She had to be sure that whatever happened tonight, the Takagi family honor would not be harmed.

Her musings about her past and her family kept her mind occupied as she walked softly through the nighttime streets of Kyoto. She was very glad she'd thought to wear her grandfather's old straw zori sandals rather than her usual wooden geta sandals. They would have clattered horribly loudly. As it was, she worried that her stomach would start to growl and give her away. Hunger settled in the pit of her stomach and gnawed at the back of her throat. Why hadn't she forced herself to eat today? She ignored it as best she could. Nothing must distract her from her goal.

Oh it was dangerous. Was she insane to think that she could best the wolves of Mibu in their den? She shook herself mentally. It was ridiculous to go all faint-hearted now. Hadn't she spent weeks loitering in front of the gates of the temple the Shinsengumi had co-opted for themselves? She'd mentally mapped out the front portion of the temple, and knew where she had to go, she just had to get there without being caught.

o-o-o

Saitoh waited for it, his eyes glued to the opening between the shoji door and the wood frame. There it was again, a flicker of movement inside Hijikata's room. He caught a glimpse of black fabric, then with a quick flutter it was gone.

His mouth creased into a feral smile. Not one of the idiot recruits then, but someone who'd dressed for a nighttime raid. An onmitsu perhaps? A ninja hired by the Ishin Shishi? Why else would he be in Hijikata's room? Hijikata was the one who kept the secret records and reports for the Shinsengumi.

Saitoh halted by the corner edge of the porch. Starlight illuminated the side garden and temple porch nicely, becoming lighter or darker as clouds drifted across the midnight sky.

He could easily call any number of Shinsengumi troops to assist him, but why share the fun? Let the young puppies sleep in their barracks in back of the temple hall. He'd deal with the intruder himself.

He settled in happily to wait for his prey to emerge.

o-o-o

It was just a tree. She'd climbed trees before as a child when her parents weren't watching. True, it had been years since she'd been near a tree, but surely it wasn't a skill one forgot easily. This particular tree's branches were dangling over the temple wall just asking to be used.

She swallowed, squared her shoulders and marched up to the leafy mass.

The bark was rough in her hands as she gripped the lowest branch and swung her feet off the ground. Hooking a knee over the branch, she clung to the underside for a long moment - feeling like one of those cocoons caterpillars glue to the bottom of stems.

The loose material of the hakama trousers she was wearing extended down towards the ground as gravity caused them to fall away from her lower limbs. It was a decidedly drafty turn of events.

She shifted her weight and heaved herself over the branch so that she was on top of it, still gripping it to her chest, but with her legs dangling down on either side of the tree limb. Now she was on top of the branch but facing the street instead of the temple.

Raising her arms, she gripped the branch above her head, welcoming the solid roughness of the uneven bark, which bit into her hands as she clenched it tightly. The sleeves of her gi were now hanging in her face. She should have tied them back, she supposed, but no. That was the last thing she should be worrying about now.

Gingerly, she half pulled her body up so that she could place her feet on the branch where her stomach had lain a moment before.

Once her feet were secure, she moved her right hand over past her left and re-attached it to the branch several inches closer toward the temple wall. Then, holding her breath, she swiveled her hips and brought her right foot off the branch, swinging it past her left, and set it down again, further along the branch.

She released her breath in a quiet sigh. She could do this. It wasn't so hard. Repeating the action several times, she inched her way closer to the temple wall, having to crouch lower and lower as the space between the two branches (one above and the one on which she stood) grew less and less the closer she came to the tree trunk.

In the end, she had to reach out to another tree branch and heave herself onto the top of the wall, stomach first. Through the thin fabric of her grandfather's hakama and gi she felt the cold, rough stones capping the wall.

Keeping a death grip on the new branch, she pulled her legs over the wall and sat on it, staring into the temple courtyard below. A quick glance to her right confirmed what she knew from reconnoitering before. The Shinsengumi closed their gates at night and posted two guards on either side outside in the street, but not, thankfully, on the inside as well. The side of the temple's main building lay directly in front of her, skirted by a wide, low wooden porch, its polished surface gleaming in the starlight.

Shadows like cobwebs clung to the scattered shrubs and stone lanterns jutting up from the side garden at her feet. She tilted her head. There were quite a lot of shrubs in fact. It made the garden look…crowded.

To her right lay a broad open space between the gate and the front of the temple. It had once been a graveled expanse with a walkway down the middle, but countless Shinsengumi feet had trampled the gravel away and now it was a dusty practice ground for soldiers. Remnants of gravels were kicked here and there in clumps. She wondered what the temple monks thought when they looked at the wreckage of what had once been their peaceful, neatly raked Zen gravel garden.

Wasn't that just like the Shinsengumi? They wrecked everything. If she'd had any doubts or second thoughts about what she was doing, the sight of the practice ground erased them.

She reached down the tree at her side and grasped one of the lower branches, then swung her hips off the wall, allowing her toes to bump into the very solid tree trunk. Her toes and the edge of her sandals scrabbled a bit against the wood, but her grip on the branch held, until she transferred it to another lower branch, and then another, until there were no more branches, just trunk.

She dropped the last few feet to the grass below. Rising from her crouched landing position, she glanced left, then right, and made her way through the side garden. Dodging shrubs, she went quickly across the grass and round stepping-stones to the edge of the temple's porch. Grabbing a support pole, she swung herself up onto the wooden planks and stepped lightly to the shoji door of a chamber near the front end of the temple.

She'd seen the one who lived in this room leave the compound a day earlier with another man. They'd been carrying baggage, as if going on a trip.

All today she'd found excuses to pass by the temple and glance inside. The shoji door had remained closed. When its occupant was home, it was always open. But what if he'd returned late in the evening while she was home cooking grandfather's dinner? What if he was in there now, asleep? Or worse, awake, waiting to carve her up into little tiny pieces, or…

She dug her fingernails into her palms and concentrated, forcing the fears away. If she was caught, she'd meet her fate bravely, as the great granddaughter of a samurai should. She wouldn't say a word. Her grandfather would never know what happened to her because she'd never reveal her family name, and wouldn't let the Takagi reputation be ruined.

Taking a breath, she raised her hand to the wood edge of the shoji screen door and gently pulled it open. A set of chests lined the right wall. Against the left hand wall was a low writing table and empty sword stand. A neatly rolled futon lying directly across from her against the far wall completed the furnishings. The room was unoccupied.

o-o-o

What was keeping that stupid ninja? Saitoh clenched his teeth. He'd been waiting over twenty minutes, waiting for the satisfaction of seeing the expression on the spy's face when he left the room blissfully unaware that his mission was not a success. Saitoh wanted to see the expression in his eyes change as the realization sank in that he was caught.

Anticipation had cured Saitoh's boredom for a while, but now it was getting tedious. He'd planned to let the ninja get whatever he'd come for so that there'd be no question of his guilt when he walked out of Hijikata's room, evidence in hand, and then…Aku Soku Zan. Destroy Evil Instantly. With proof of the man's guilt right there on his body, even Kondo couldn't criticize Saitoh for slaughtering the spy.

Saitoh cocked his head, eyes widening. Wait a minute…that sound, coming from Hijikata's room. It was faint but, was that…humming?

o-o-o

It only took her a minute or two to pick the locks on the chests against the wall. Mechanical things had always enthralled her, how their parts fit together, how they worked. She'd learned how to take apart every locked chest and cupboard in the family compound by the time she was ten. Only the strongbox lock in grandfather's office had posed any sort of a challenge. The strongbox where all the money was kept had disappeared the night of the fire.

Her hands stilled momentarily on the bits of twisted metal she was using. Then she shook herself. She mustn't think of the fire. Not now. She bent her head over the lock and concentrated. Soon all the chests were opened. She sank back on her heels in despair. There was so much paper here!

One whole chest was old financial reports and accounts. She closed it and mentally crossed it off her list of places to search. One chest seemed to be private correspondence. The last with the hardest lock to pick were reports from spies, past missions, dossiers on officials, enemies, and even some Shinsengumi members. She shut that one and went back to the correspondence chest. It seemed the likeliest place to begin, though it was also the messiest.

The papers weren't filed in any sort of order. Some were folded, others rolled up, and all had to be opened if she was to find what she wanted. It was driving her crazy so she decided to sort them into piles by type of correspondence.

There were lots of old letters, notes to self, bits of poetry and something that caused her heart to stop for a minute. It was a sketch of a woman looking over her shoulder. For a moment, she thought it was a sketch of her own mother, but when she brought it to the starlight spilling in from the doorway she saw immediately that it wasn't. Her mother had been beautiful like the woman in the picture, but this was a different beauty with a thinner face and thicker hair.

As she leaned over the sketch, her own hair fell over onto the paper, the ends making a scratching sound as they touched the sketch. She pushed the strands back over her shoulder, realizing that the ribbon tying her hair back at her neck was coming loose.

Ah well, she'd deal with that later.

She had to go back to the doorway several times, to take a better look at certain papers to be sure they weren't what she wanted. Absently, she began to hum, as if she were back home doing normal housework on a normal day. She was getting toward the bottom of the trunk when a name on a letter caught her eye.

Serizawa Kama.

Rising to her feet, she had to force herself to unclench her fingers, which were creasing the paper's edge. So intent was she on the letter that she barely registered the sudden darkening of the room as a shape interposed itself between the doorway and the star lit sky.

The shoji screen was shoved open violently along its wooden track, causing her to look up quickly as a low voice growled, "So, thief, did you find what you were looking for?"

She saw a man, tall and lithe in a white yukata, standing in the doorway. His eyes were narrow and gleamed yellow, like wolves' eyes. Spikes of bangs hung low over his forehead, the rest of his hair pulled back in a high ponytail. In his hand was a naked sword.

As she watched, shocked into immobility, the man dropped into a low crouch, extending his right arm so it pointed straight at her with a deadly grace. He raised his left hand to his cheek so that the silver grey blade was also aimed at her, parallel to his right arm.

Her eyes focused on the sharp metal tip of the blade, only a few strides across the room from her heart. She couldn't move, forgot to breathe.

"I'm sure you're familiar with our motto." The man's voice purred chillingly, like a midnight sea wave, its calm beauty hiding the power and full force of the sea tides below as it rolled inexorably toward the beach. "Aku Soku Zan."

'Destroy Evil instantly?' The words took a moment to sink in, then, 'I'm going to die,' she thought. She heard a flutter as the papers dropped out of her suddenly non-functioning fingers, and the ground began to roll up to meet her as everything went black.

END CHAPTER ONE

A/N So what do you think so far? Please read and review!


	2. Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin characters or plot.

Saitoh shoved the shoji screen open, catching the thief in his shadow as starlight spilled into Hijikata's room from the garden behind him. Sometimes it was a pain to be tall, and cast a long shadow. All Saitoh could see was the man's outline, with patches of white delineating his face and the document he held in his hands. It was one of Hijikata's secret reports, no doubt.

"So, thief, did you find what you were looking for?" Saitoh asked, not really expecting a reply, and the ninja obliged him by maintaining the silence they were famous for.

He dropped into the classic stance for executing the gattotsu, his signature left handed parallel thrust. "I'm sure you're familiar with our motto, Aku Soku Zan?" he asked.

Hmm. Curious. Now that he'd sunk into a crouch, his shadow slipped off the intruder somewhat, and he now saw that the man, or boy really, wasn't wearing a face mask. Was he an inept ninja or just a common thief? No matter. Saitoh knew how to deal with both. He tensed his body, preparing to lunge when…

Thump! The boy's body crumpled to the ground.

Saitoh maintained his pose for a minute. Like he was really going to fall for that one! He waited for the intruder to realize his plan to get Saitoh off guard wasn't working, but the boy was stubborn.

He glanced around the floor to see if there were any weapons the boy planned to pick up and use on him, but there were nothing but papers arranged in neat little piles all over the tatami mat.

Still the boy didn't move. Saitoh's eyes narrowed. Lowering his sword, he took a quick step forward and placed the tip at the boy's throat. A tiny droplet of blood appeared under the kid's chin as Saitoh pricked him lightly.

Still no reaction. He used the blunt, muni side of his blade to nudge the boy's jaw. The kid's head flopped over to the side so that the starlight from outside shown clearly on his face. Sheesh, he was young! Probably wasn't even old enough to shave yet. Either the ninjas were recruiting from the cradle, or this was just a thief.

Saitoh nudged the boy's knee. Still no reaction. Hmm. Saitoh had never actually frightened anyone to death before. It was a novel experience. But wait a bit, the tiny wound on the boy's neck was still bleeding, so if blood was flowing he had to be alive.

Not having much experience with fainting thieves, Saitoh didn't know how long this state of unconsciousness would last. Better take precautions. If the kid were hiding a dagger or other weapons, they'd be in his gi sleeves, or secured to his chest. Saitoh checked the first hiding place by walking over the sleeves with his bare feet, the fabric splayed out on the floor, pooling around the boy's outstretched arms. He kept his blade at the kid's throat just in case he woke suddenly and tried anything.

Nothing there.

Weapons could still be tucked inside the gi at his chest. Saitoh lowered his blade tip and ran it lightly across the kid's chest starting at the right ribcage, checking for daggers or shuriken. Aha! There was a lump, but wait a minute, that wasn't like any weapon he'd encountered before. Saitoh prodded at the shape under the black gi with his blade again, then leapt back from the body as if he'd touched a hot kettle with his hand.

Yelping a curse, he glared down at the body on the mat. The gods must all hate him.

The thief was a woman.

o-o-o

If Kondo found out that he'd scratched a woman with his sword, he'd hit the roof. When he realized that a mere woman had infiltrated Shinsengumi headquarters, he'd be even angrier. Saitoh had to find out who the woman was and why she was here.

He knelt to the floor by the body and picked up the paper she'd been holding when she fell. It was one of Hijikata's old letters from home. Evidently he'd been complaining about Serizawa to one of his friends, and the friend was writing back to commiserate. Saitoh glanced over it quickly. There was absolutely nothing secret about it.

Sheathing his sword, he went through the neat little stacks of paper on the floor and found only unimportant personal papers. Hijikata might be upset that Saitoh and the girl now knew that he wrote poetry on the side, but apart from that there was nothing damaging to either Hijikata or the security of the Shinsengumi.

What was damaging was the fact that the girl was here at all. If he could present a full report to Hijikata and Kondo when they returned it would go a long way towards mitigating his failure to protect Shinsengumi headquarters.

He glared down at the girl in sudden calculation. He would be the one to interrogate her, and present the report to Kondo and Hijikata. No one else.

Decision made, he scooped the girl up in his arms and walked out onto the porch where a sleepy looking Okita stepped out of his doorway, turned and stared open mouthed.

Saitoh felt his jaw clench as Okita's eyes dropped interestedly to the body in his arms.

"Is he dead?" Okita asked in surprise.

Hah. So Saitoh wasn't the only one to mistake the hakama and gi clad girl for a boy, and Okita was seeing her outside in the starlight. Cheered by the thought, he smirked and began to carry her past the younger captain.

" 'She' is 'he' and no, she's not dead. Not yet." It wouldn't do any harm to reinforce his reputation as a soulless killer to Okita. The boy was remarkably irreverent towards him. Saitoh noticed that Okita's mouth dropped open in a round 'o' shape as he watched Saitoh pass.

Then the girl ruined it by stirring in his arms.

"Papa?" she muttered, then burrowed her face against his chest, lapsing back to sleep.

Saitoh stalked on until he got to his chamber, and nudged the shoji screen open with his foot. Steeling himself, he glanced back at Okita.

Okita's hand was now covering his mouth, and his shoulders were shaking, but Saitoh had a sinking suspicion that they weren't shaking due to coughing. One glance at the smile in Okita's eyes confirmed it.

"The girl broke into Hijikata's room and left a mess. Clean it up, unless you want him to come back and find his papers all over the floor." Saitoh ordered.

Okita nodded obediently, but Saitoh could still hear the faint sound of snickering as Okita bent to pick something up from the floor, letting his bangs fall forward in an attempt to hide his smile.

Growling to himself, Saitoh entered his room, shoved the shoji screen shut with his foot and dumped the girl on his futon. Then he dressed in his full Shinsengumi uniform of gi, hakama, and the distinctive blue haori coat with the white wave pattern at the sleeves. When she woke, he wanted her to remember who it was she'd tried to steal from.

Whenever that would be. Leaning his sword upright against his shoulder he sat against the wall and prepared to wait her out.

o-o-o

She was being carried in her father's arms. She must have fallen asleep at dinner again. Her mother always said she played harder than any girl child she'd ever seen, and it tended to catch up with her after she'd eaten.

That was when her father would pick her up and carry her back to the sleeping chamber while her mother got out her sleeping yukata. She didn't mind his uneven gait, she felt safe in his arms and knew he'd never let her fall.

She called out to him sleepily and nestled happily against his chest, then sleep overtook her and she was gone.

The sunlight was coming in from the wrong direction, she noted blearily. What was she doing sleeping in grandfather's old gi and hakama? Rolling to her side, she realized her hair was loose. She realized too, that the futon beneath her was blue, not green like the one at home. She lifted a hand to her neck. There was a spot of dried blood on it. Had she scratched herself in her sleep?

Then memory came rushing back.

"So you're awake." growled the voice from last night.

Her head shot up and she saw with horror that a Shinsengumi soldier was sitting not five feet away from her, his sword held prominently against his shoulder. She cringed back instinctively.

He his lips moved into a feral smile. "We're going to have a little talk, you and I. I will ask questions, and you will answer. Agreed?"

She opened her mouth to respond, then remembered. If she spoke, he'd find a way to get her to reveal her name. Grandfather would find out what she'd done, and the Takagi family honor, the only thing they had left of value, would be ruined.

So she wouldn't talk. She shut her mouth with a snap and sank back on her knees, staring at him defiantly.

The defiant stare lasted about a minute. He was just too scary to look at, so she stared down at her hands, fisted in the black hakama fabric on her knees, and let his words wash over her.

For hours he yelled, whispered, insulted, threatened, and cajoled. She never said a word, though at times she felt like crying at some of the things he said which were calculated to get her to speak to defend herself. She was a Takagi. She was strong. She was also wondering if they were planning to starve her to death.

Didn't Shinsengumi ever eat?

o-o-o

Saitoh skipped breakfast. He didn't want to lose momentum. The girl wasn't cracking.

Surprising.

Perhaps she'd had ninja training after all. Then he remembered the way she'd called him 'papa' and snuggled against him. This girl was no ninja. He'd stake his life on that.

It was nearly lunch time. His squad had patrol duty later that afternoon. He wanted to wrap this up before then. He intensified his efforts, pacing around her as he threw questions at her, keeping her off guard, but nothing worked.

She remained stubbornly silent. When he found his hand itching to smack some sense into the girl he knew it was time to quit. He'd never hit a woman in his life, and he wasn't about to start now.

Wrenching the shoji screen open, he stalked out onto the porch to get some air, closing the screen behind him with unnecessary force. Okita's shoji opened and he stepped up to Saitoh who was staring moodily at the tree he'd noticed last night. He bet she'd used it to enter the compound.

"Is she talking yet?" Okita asked innocently. He'd left his uniform haori coat off, since he wasn't scheduled for patrol, and was wearing a simple blue kimono and obi.

"No." Saitoh growled. Okita was in the room next door to him. The walls were thin. If the girl had spoken, Okita would have heard it. They both knew it. "She isn't taking this seriously." He commented, more to himself than Okita.

"What will you do?"

Saitoh turned his face toward the younger captain, allowing his frustration to show.

Okita immediately looked away and stared at the floorboards of the porch. "You're not planning to…do what we did to Kotaka?" he asked grimly.

Kotaka was the Choshu Ishin Shishi loyalist Kondo had captured. Hijikata had tortured him with iron spikes and hot candle wax to make him give up the location of the Ikeda-ya Inn meeting where Miyabe's group of Choshu loyalists were planning to launch an attack on the imperial palace to kidnap the emperor and set fire to Kyoto in order to escape in the confusion.

Saitoh's face lighted up. "Thank you, Okita. You've just given me an idea. Make sure the girl doesn't escape."

Ignoring Okita's quick sound of protest, he dropped lightly off the porch and went to the storage shed at the back of the temple compound. Retrieving the items he needed, he returned to the porch and Okita.

For the second time in twenty four hours he saw Okita's jaw drop. His eyes grew big, then accusing as he saw the candles and spikes Saito was carrying in one hand.

"Master Saitoh! You're not…"

Saitoh smirked at Okita's expression. In many ways Okita was still a boy, easily shocked. "No. We destroy evil, we don't embrace it."

Relief flashed in Okita's eyes as Saitoh went on. "Hijikata used these as a last resort. The Ishin Shishi were planning to burn down Kyoto. I doubt this little fool" he nodded toward his door "is planning to do anything like that."

"Then why?" Okita gestured at the candle and spikes.

"Shinsengumi do not torture women. But there's no rule against letting them think we can."

With that, Saitoh stalked past Okita, entered his chamber, grabbed the girl by the wrist, and pulled her, stumbling, to her feet. Her hair fell about her face and shoulders as she lurched to keep up with him. He dragged her down the porch away from Okita to the back of the temple. Stopping at the shed where the laundry tubs were stored, he opened the door and shoved her inside, closing the door behind them both.

Five minutes later he emerged, tight faced, carrying her prone form. As he feared, Okita was still on the porch when he mounted the steps and began to stalk across the wooden planks. He'd probably stayed to listen to be sure there wasn't any screaming.

Okita walked part way to greet him, eyes glued with horrified fascination on the body in his arms. "She's not…?"

Saitoh stopped and hmphed impatiently. "She did it again." He growled.

Okita looked at him. "Again?"

"She fainted." Saitoh bit out the words and glared, affronted, at the girl in his arms. Glancing up he saw Okita press his lips together in an effort not to smile.

It wasn't funny. Saitoh stalked past the young captain, shoved his shoji door open, and rolled the girl off his arms onto the futon, then stalked back out, shutting the door firmly behind him.

"I'm going on patrol. You watch her." He told Okita, then stalked back to the barracks to roust his lazy squad members and force them to go on patrol a half hour earlier than scheduled.

o-o-o

She woke up slowly, and opened her eyes reluctantly. Yes, it wasn't a dream. She was still in that tall Shinsengumi guy's room on his blue futon. She knew now that she wouldn't last long if they tortured her. She'd fainted at the very thought of it. Of course the fainting might have something to do with the fact that they hadn't bothered to feed her.

She wondered how long it took to starve to death. She should have brought grandfather's tanto dagger. No, wait, she'd already sold it. She'd heard somewhere that it was possible to bite your tongue and bleed to death. Experimentally, she caught her tongue between her teeth and pressed down. And quickly released her tongue. That hurt! Not only that, it just reminded her of how hungry she was.

Pushing her palms against the futon, she pushed herself up to a sitting position. That man was so angry with her! He thought she was a thief or a spy. It rankled. She wanted to tell him, to make that cold contempt in his eyes go away, but she couldn't. If she'd really been a spy she thought she'd have died of shame by now. She didn't know why it mattered what he thought of her, but it did. And she'd never be able to tell him the truth or explain herself. She sniffed. She was NOT going to cry.

The shoji screen opened and a young boy popped his head in the opening, and gave her a sunny smile. "Oh good, you're awake!"

His head disappeared momentarily, then reappeared, along with the rest of him, carrying a square, footed, black-lacquer tray.

The boy, dressed in a simple kimono, set the tray down in front of her. It had a covered bowl of what smelled like rice, a square tray of grilled fish, and a drinking bowl of tea, with a set of chopsticks at the side.

"I thought you might be hungry." He told her, and sat across from her on the other side of the tray.

Hungry? She was starving. She hadn't eaten for a day and a half. But wait, this was Shinsengumi food. What if it were poisoned? Or drugged? What if it contained a truth serum? She'd heard such drugs existed. She couldn't eat it.

Biting her lip in disappointment, she shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm not hungry." She muttered miserably.

She was staring at the food. She realized it when she looked up to see the boy watching her look, and blushed.

"It's not poisoned, I promise." He reached out and uncovered the rich bowl. It was still so fresh from the kitchen that the rice was steaming, and she just about died from inhaling its heavenly scent.

Taking a scoop of rice, the boy raised his fingers to his mouth and popped it in, then reached out and grabbed a piece of fish and ate it as well. Then he took the tea bowl and took a sip. "See? Would I do that if it were poisoned?"

He extended his hands and presented her with the tea bowl.

Well, how could she refuse when he was looking at her so expectantly, like one of the neighbor boys showing off his latest masterpiece, or a newly caught frog, waiting with bated breath for her praise or compliments? It would be rude not to take the bowl, she decided, and lifted it reverently out of his hands.

She took a sip. Green tea. It was perfect. Not too strong or too hot, but just right. She took another, bigger sip and let the liquid wash over her parched tongue. Now, what about the food?

The kid was obviously a servant boy, and if he'd been ordered to bring her food, they might beat him if the food came back untouched. So for his sake, she'd better eat it. She lit into the serving dishes with a sigh.

The boy laughed with delight. "I figured Saitoh forgot to feed you. And he wonders why you keep fainting!"

"Who?" she asked around a mouthful of rice, pausing from shoveling the plump grains into her mouth with her chopsticks.

"Saitoh-san."

She stared at him blankly. Who was that?

"You're in his room." The boy told her gently.

She glanced around. The room was so sparsely furnished, with just a chest and one calligraphy scroll on the wall, that she'd figured it was a spare one. "His name is Saitoh?"

"Yes," the boy nodded. "He is Saitoh, and I am Okita. The man whose room you were found in is Hijikata."

Warmth stole up her cheeks. She had a feeling she was blushing again. "So you know about that…Wait, did you say his name was Hijikata? Not Serizawa?"

Okita's eyes grew big. "Why would you think that?"

She swallowed a mouthful of rice. "I heard that Serizawa was the scariest Shinsengumi officer ever. I asked some people in the street who was the scariest officer and they said it was the tallest one. I've seen two tall officers so far, the one from that room I…Ahem." she coughed and went on. "so the other one must be Saitoh." She didn't tell Okita that she hadn't dared to use Serizawa's name when asking people about the Shinsengumi because she was afraid they'd remember it. She hadn't asked many questions at all for that very reason.

"Ah." Okita said, still puzzled but too polite to ask why she was asking about scary officers.

She took another bite of fish and saw his confusion. He looked barely older than some of her neighbor's boys. "Aren't you scared to work here?" she asked.

"Scared?" Okita looked surprised. "No, why would I?"

"Isn't it frightening working around all the Shinsengumi?"

Okita's mouth opened in astonishment, and an expression she couldn't quite identify passed over his face.

She put her chopsticks down. "I'm sorry. It's not my business. Please forgive me for asking."

"It's OK. Please tell me why you think it would be scary to work here. I really want to know what you've heard about us...er…I mean the Shinsengumi."

She glanced at him concernedly, but saw only bland curiosity, not offence in his face, so she answered. "Just the usual. They are like wolves, they hunt in packs and kill every loyalist they find. Other people too sometimes." She felt her face tighten up at the memory, but couldn't help it.

Okita's eyes darkened, and he looked sad. He leaned forward, hands on the tatami mat. "Did …they…kill someone you know?" he asked gently.

A memory flashed back into her mind, one that she wished she could forget. Her mother's body lay splayed out suggestively on the floor of father's burning workshop. There'd been so much blood, and her mother's eyes staring sightlessly at her as the flames took hold of the shreds of her kimono. She'd known her mother was dead, even as she'd tried to drag the body from the burning building. It was two, nearly three years ago, but the memory was still as fresh and vivid as the day it had happened.

She swallowed, hard, the food forgotten. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Okita was silent for a minute, then he spoke softly. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't be." She straightened her spine. "It was years ago. It wasn't like it was your fault. You're not one of those killers."

She began stacking the bowls on the tray and noticed Okita seemed to be squirming. She took her hands off the bowls. Perhaps he was supposed to do the tidying up after the meal.

"I've told you my name, what's yours?" he asked suddenly, and then she understood. They'd asked him to find out her name and he was uncomfortable doing it.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you that."

"But why not?"

She sighed. It was much harder to resist Okita's gentle puppy dog eyes than Saitoh's ruthless verbal demands. "If I tell my family name I'll bring dishonor to them when they find out that I was caught trespassing."

Okita cocked his head. "Why were you trespassing? You don't seem like a thief."

"Oh, and I suppose you've met a lot of thieves in your life?" she laughed, then sobered and answered as best she could. "I really can't tell you that. It's a secret."

"I can keep a secret!" Okita told her.

This kid was adorable. He had no idea the sort of people he was working for. He deserved to be warned. "If I tell you, and that Saitoh person finds out, he'll torture you to get the information. Believe me, you're better off not knowing."

"Oh, Saitoh would never do that." Okita said blithely, then stopped as if unsure that he should have said it.

Leaning closer to the tray, she stared at him worriedly. "Oh yes he would." She nodded vehemently to punctuate her words. "You didn't hear him talk about how he tortures people. It's horrible. I can't let that happen to you. Isn't there anywhere else you can work? It's not safe here for you. You don't have a Kyoto accent. Why not go home? Where is your home, by the way?"

Okita smiled. "It's a small village on the outskirts of Edo."

"Edo? How did you come to Kyoto?"

"A group of my friends were going for a job so I tagged along." He informed her airily. "It was our greatest adventure."

"Tell me about your village." She commanded softly, and Okita obliged. He soon had her laughing at the antics of his great-uncle's escape artist chickens, and his cousin's tongue-tied courtship of his future wife.

"Now tell me about your family." Okita ended expectantly.

"I can't…"

Okita shook his head. "I don't mean names or anything, just stories."

She thought a moment, looked at his face, so like the young neighbor boys she watched over when their mother went to market, and relented.

"Alright, I'll tell you an old story about my great grandfather. He was a samurai who served the Daimyo of a han far away. The Daimyo had several sons, and the oldest was an honorable man, a worthy successor to the Daimyo. But the second son was jealous. He wanted to be Daimyo, so one night he murdered his father and elder brother, and accused great grandfather and the other five samurai on duty of letting an assassin inside. He ordered them to commit seppuku. They were all ready to do it too when one of the samurai noticed the snow."

"The snow?" interjected Okita.

"Yes," she smiled. "It snowed the day before the murder, but it was clear all that night and the next day. One of the samurai noticed that there were no footprints in the snow, save for his own and the other men who'd patrolled all night long, trampling one circular path around the mansion. No one from the outside had come to the house. There were no other footprints leading to the house, and the only one in the house besides the women and children was the second son."

"The samurai banded together. The second son was friend to the shogun. They knew the shogun would never believe the samurai over them. So they killed the second son and fled to become ronin, masterless samurai, forever after. My great grandfather wound up in Kyoto after years of wandering and he met a beautiful girl at a well who gave him a drink since he had no bucket. A bandit tried to attack her on her way home. Great grandfather heard her cries and killed the bandit, though he was wounded pretty badly in the fight. The girl's family were so grateful they brought him home and the girl nursed him back to health. They fell in love. The girl's family had no son, so they adopted Great grandfather and allowed him to marry the girl. They had a son who inherited the family business, and he had a son, and that son was my father."

She stopped, afraid to say any more in case she slipped up and said a name.

Okita smiled. "That's a very good story. Do you have any more?"

"Won't your master be angry that you're taking so long?" They'd been talking for quite some time, and she didn't want to get the serving boy in trouble.

"My master?" asked Okita. "Oh! Not at all. I'm supposed to be guarding you."

Guarding her? Why bother to send a servant boy to keep her company when she could hear Shinsengumi soldiers practicing in the yard outside, ready and willing to cut her to pieces should she so much as poke her nose out the door? Unless her suspicions were correct and they'd sent him to get more information out of her. If that was the case…

She smiled. "Tell me more about your village." Turnabout was fair play. She'd find out more about Okita instead.

The shoji door opened suddenly and a man's head popped in. "Captain Okita, sir! Captain Saitoh has returned and wishes to speak with you."

"Captain Okita?" she repeated, and turned to look accusingly at the boy sitting across the lacquer tray.

Okita sighed and waved at the man in the doorway, who was staring curiously at her and the captain. "Tell Saitoh-san I'm on my way. That will be all."

The man bowed and shut the shoji screen.

"I'm sorry." He said to her. "I didn't mean to fool you like that. It's just that when you thought I was a servant…" He trailed off and gave her a sad grin. "I'm sorry." He said again, rose to his feet and left her feeling like she'd just been punched in the stomach.

o-o-o

Saitoh was waiting for Okita in the great hall of the temple, ignoring the groans of his squad members as they took off their sandals. He'd worked them hard today, extending the scope of their patrol and walking them all over the city. Twice. It would do them good to develop a little stamina.

Okita entered the main hall, took off his sandals and came up to Saitoh.

"Well?"

"Well what?" asked Okita innocently.

"Don't play the fool," Saitoh growled. "It doesn't suit you."

Okita grinned unrepentantly. "I spent the afternoon with her. You forgot to feed her, by the way. That's why she kept fainting."

Hmm. So the girl wasn't ill. Good. It would be just his luck if she keeled over while in his custody, giving Kondo and Hijikata even more reasons to be miffed at him. "What did you find out?" Trust Okita to make him ask instead of just spitting out the pertinent information.

"I didn't get her name, but I learned about her family. She's the great-granddaughter of a samurai who was adopted by a merchant family. Oh, and one more thing."

"Yes?"

"She's really a very nice girl when you get to know her."

"You try my patience, Okita." Saitoh growled as the boy laughed.

"Well really, Saitoh-san, how was I supposed to get any more out of her when your messenger barged in demanding my presence? Up until that point she thought I was a servant. She was really opening up and beginning to trust me. She said I should get another job in a place that wasn't so dangerous." Okita gave a foolish grin.

Saitoh narrowed his eyes in thought. So she'd charmed Okita, had she? Not that it was difficult. Okita liked to believe the best about everyone. Including Saitoh. More fool him.

"Aren't you due for evening patrol?"

"I took two of Shinpachi's patrols last week so he's taking my patrol tonight." Okita told him. "I'd be happy to help you find out more about the girl if you'd like."

"That won't be necessary." He nodded a brusque goodbye at the young captain and stalked back to his room.

The girl may have charmed Okita, but she wouldn't charm him. Still, threats and intimidation hadn't worked. If she truly was from a samurai family, he couldn't use torture on her without severe repercussions, even if he wanted to. Perhaps charm was the answer.

He could be charming. Just because he'd had almost no use for women in the past and thought them weak, annoying creatures didn't mean that he couldn't charm one of them.

He opened the shoji screen and prepared to be charming.

o-o-o

It was a complete disaster.

The minute he walked in the room, she tensed up and clenched her fists in the fabric of her hakama.

She refused to speak when he asked after her health, her family, her hobbies. She was treating his polite conversation like it was still an interrogation. Then he remembered something Okita had said.

"I understand you were hungry today. I regret not arranging food for you before I left. I will be sure that the kitchen sends something in for your dinner tonight."

At the mention of food her head raised a little and he caught a glimpse of her brown eyes between the twin waves of black hair that fell, curtain-like, from her forehead.

"What sort of food do you prefer?" asked Saitoh.

She got a sort of dreamy look in her eyes, and her lips parted for a moment as if she was going to actually tell him. Saitoh found himself holding his breath, then her lips pressed back together and she lowered her head.

That's when Saitoh lost his temper. "It's a question about food, woman," he snapped. "I'm not asking about state secrets. Have you no sense of courtesy? Though what else could I expect from a thief?" He allowed a dark sneer to color his voice as he continued. "How a woman from a noble samurai lineage could sink to the level of a petty thief is beyond me. Your ancestors must be ashamed of you - sneaking into Shinsengumi Headquarters to steal like a common criminal."

"It's not stealing when you're taking back something that belongs to you!"

The girl gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth as if trying to shut it before any more words came out.

So, she does talk. Saitoh smiled triumphantly.

The girl saw the smile and placed her other hand over her first. Her mouth stayed shut, and no amount of insults, threats, or entreaties to the family honor opened it again. When he realized he was seriously thinking about ripping her hands off her mouth by force, he knew it was time to take a break. No other prisoner he'd interrogated had ever affected him like this before.

Getting her to talk so that he could present a full report to Kondo and Hijikata was no longer the sole reason he had for interrogating the girl. It was becoming personal.

It was becoming a necessity.

Okita's footsteps were pacing outside. The boy had been walking desultorily up and down the porch for some time. Saitoh decided to join him. He rose to his feet and walked out the shoji door without a backward glance.

Shutting the shoji screen behind him, he jerked his head toward the rear of the temple and began to walk. Okita fell into step beside him. When they were far enough away from his room to avoid being overheard, he stopped.

"What else did the girl tell you?" he demanded.

"Nothing important, really." Okita said, concentrating. "We mostly swapped old family stories. Oh, and she thought either you or Hijikata was Serizawa."

Saitoh stared. Serizawa Kamo? That was a name he'd like to forget. His actions had done more to stain the reputation of the Shinsengumi than any amount of gossip could. "So, she doesn't know Serizawa is dead?"

Okita shook his head. "It's not as if the world stops when one of us dies, you know." Okita looked away for a second then continued brightly. "And we were in our old headquarters across town at the Yagi residence when he was killed. I doubt it would have been news in this end of Kyoto."

Okita stared at him. "So what do we do now?"

So it was 'we' now was it? Okita was taking an interest in his prisoner. She really had charmed him, and Okita, for all his optimism, wasn't easily fooled. Nor was he. Hijikata and Kondo were coming back tomorrow. He had to have the report finished by then.

"We let her go." Saitoh said decisively.

"Really?" The happiness that brightened Okita's eyes was really quite pathetic.

"We allow her to think she's escaped, follow her home, and interrogate her entire family until we find the answers we need." Saitoh went on coldly, watching the boy's hopes deflate.

"Oh." said Okita dully.

"Did you think I'd gone soft?" Saitoh sneered.

"No." Okita grinned weakly. "Not you. I never expected you to go soft." He turned and began walking back to his room.

As Okita left, Saitoh thought he heard the boy say softly, "Though I did hope…."

END CHAPTER TWO

Note to Reviewers:

Misaoshiru – Yep, 'evil' is my middle name! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but it would have been a marathon of a chapter if I hadn't stopped it there. Thanks for reviewing my YYH story too, I don't think anyone else had read it in months, so I was pleasantly surprised to get a new review.

Miburo Kid – Thanks for reading! I hope chapter two doesn't disappoint you.

JoselynGreenleaf – Cookie? Where? What kind? I will definitely write for cookies, and shinsengumi uniforms too! Throw in Saitoh's katana and wakazashi and I'll dedicate the whole story to you.

Lolo popoki – Glad to hear the lack of dialogue didn't detract from chapter 1, and I hope Saitoh's reaction to the fainting meets with your approval.

BakaBokken – Good luck with those finals! You were right, Saitoh didn't kill her – it would have been a REALLY short story if he had, and there'd be no opportunity to torment Saitoh. Where's the fun in that?

Rkfan – Love your screen name! I hope you like chapter 2!

Conspirator – You've just got to love Saitoh being cool and aloof, but I hope to shake him up a little without making him too out-of-character!

WolfDaughter – I'm one of your favorites? I'm happy! As for what Tokio is looking for, you will find out eventually. It's nothing too earth-shaking, but it gave me an excuse to have her infiltrate Shinsengumi HQ.

AyukaRyou – Thanks for the compliment – I'll try to update once a week.

Keirin Sama – Glad you liked the beginning, and I hope you continue to like the next few chapters.

Kasifya - Hi Kasi! I hope chapter two will also help stave off withdrawals from "The Choshu Chronicles" too! If you want fluff, read on, it gets fluffier.

Larie-chan - Thanks for the review, and my muses reported for duty so here's another update. As for what she was looking for...you'll have to wait and see!


	3. Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin plot or characters.

That evening, Saitoh had a soldier deliver her meal and watched her while she ate. Really, it was almost indecent the pleasure that woman got from such simple fare. The monks' culinary efforts seemed to revolve around rice, fish and vegetables. Give him a good bowl of soba noodles any day.

When she finished, he told her that he was on patrol that night, but that a guard would be posted outside so she shouldn't try to escape. Then he walked out and went through his pre-arranged conversation with Suichi, one of his less stupid soldiers.

He left the shoji screen a little ajar so that she'd have no choice but to overhear.

"Suichi. I want you to guard this door tonight. I'll be gone on patrol."

"Yes sir." Suichi put just the right amount of boredom in his voice.

"Don't go wandering off like you did the last time you had guard duty."

"No sir." sighed the warrior glumly with just a hint of impatience.

"See that you don't." Saitoh reached behind him, closed the shoji screen and nodded to Suichi, making a mental note to recommend him to Hijikata for intelligence gathering. The man was a natural.

Saitoh walked around the corner of the temple and sat to wait. It was dark already. Shinpachi and the evening patrol had just left. Suichi had orders to stand in front of the shoji screen for exactly one hour before 'wandering off' loudly.

"Hello." Okita, dressed neatly in his Shinsengumi uniform, rounded the corner and sat down beside Saitoh.

"Okita…" began Saitoh warningly.

"I won't mess up your plan. I just thought you might like some company." Okita told him, tilting his head slightly and causing his short bangs to shift against his forehead. Even when they both were sitting, Saitoh towered above the younger captain, forcing Okita to crane his neck to speak to him. It couldn't be comfortable.

"I prefer silent company."

Okita nodded and subsided.

The hour passed slowly. When Saitoh's internal clock marked the end of an hour, he stood and went to the corner's edge. Okita stood as well, hanging back behind Saitoh.

Saitoh leaned in to look around the corner. Suichi was just leaving.

The soldier stretched ostentatiously, and allowed his knuckles to graze the shoji screen as he raised his arms above his head, then clumped off down the porch.

The other soldiers had been warned to stay away from this side of the temple and avoid the practice ground. Now all that was lacking was the girl.

The minutes stretched on and on. Ten minutes passed. Then twenty, and thirty.

"Perhaps she saw through it." suggested Okita in a whisper.

Saitoh glared. "Impossible." Yet the girl didn't move.

By the time another ten minutes passed, Saitoh was ready to storm into his room, pick the girl up, and throw her over the wall.

o-o-o

When the guard left, she was relieved. Now he wouldn't hear her. Saitoh had been so angry. What if he decided to torture her tomorrow? She tried biting her tongue again, but couldn't bring herself to actually draw blood. So much for suicide.

Unless…she searched the room quietly, but Saitoh had taken all the nice pointy swords and sharp objects with him. The one chest in the room contained only clothes. Apart from a wall scroll emblazoned with the Shinsengumi motto of 'Aku Soku Zan', the chest and futon were the only furnishings.

She sat back down on the futon, staring absently at the shoji screen. The guard's shadow was still gone. She thought of her grandfather, and wondered if he missed her. Her grandfather was a stern and formal man. Ever since the fire he'd been even more uncommunicative than usual, lost in regrets and memories of the past. He hadn't been able to protect her mother, and she knew, from hearing his nightmares, that it weighed heavily on him. Sometimes she wondered if he even noticed her presence at all.

Sometimes she wondered if she really existed, for all the notice her grandfather paid her.

At least the Shinsengumi knew she was there. They even posted guards around her! Come to think of it, that guard had been gone an awfully long time.

Crawling on her hands and knees, she crept up to the shoji screen and opened it an inch. There were no cries of discovery. No guard waited to pounce on her.

She opened it another inch, and then another, then crawled out on the porch and sat half in, half out of the doorway, looking around. There were no guards anywhere near the garden, just like the night when she'd crept inside.

They hadn't even trimmed the tree back. There it was, its untidy mass of branches spreading out over both sides of the wall. Dreamily, she got to her feet. Could it be? Was she really free to escape?

She walked over to the edge of the porch and dropped off it into the dirt path below. She looked left and right again. The area was empty. The night was still, save for some rowdy late-night party animals roaming the street outside the headquarters. By the sound of it, they were going to pass right by.

Hey! If she got to the tree and over the wall in time, maybe she could join them and use them to cover her escape. Quite pleased with this plan, she began to walk toward the tree. She'd just reached the grass when she realized the noise from the partygoers wasn't drunken celebration, but screams of hatred.

It was a riot.

Kyoto was beginning to have more and more of them lately. The Ishin Shishi instigated some as political protests, but others happened spontaneously as the peasants objected to the price of rice, or taxes, or whatever was making them anxious that day.

She hesitated and looked to her left across the practice yard.

An arrow, tipped with flame, shot over the wall and landed dead center in the dirt in front of the temple's main building. Another joined it, then another.

The shouting outside the wall grew louder and now torches were being thrown over it as well. One hit a shed with a thatch roof at the far corner across the practice field from her.

Without realizing it, she'd drifted toward the flaming arrows burning into the ground. She had nothing to put the fire out, just like before.

Two blue and white-coated Shinsengumi soldiers, a tall and a short one, rushed past her from the front of the temple, yelling an alarm. They pushed open the front gate and she saw the angry crowd, some with swords but most with tools or farm implements, threatening the two guards at the gate.

When the two newest Shinsengumi joined the gate guards, the peasants attacked. She shuddered away from the sounds of steel against steel and looked over at the shed, which had caught fire.

The flames spread to a smaller shed near it.

It was hypnotic. She couldn't move, her feet seemed glued to the ground as she gazed at the orange flames dancing along the sheds.

Half dressed men began to spill out from around the edge of the temple. Some of them ran for buckets, while others, who'd had the presence of mind to bring their swords, rushed past her to help their colleagues at the gate.

She continued to stare at the burning sheds, the arrows still flaming away at her feet, the heat and smoke rising from them bringing tears to her eyes, but she couldn't step away.

Suddenly she was back in father's work shed, her mother's dead body at her feet.

"Mother," she whispered.

"Hey!" A soldier dressed in a short sleeping yukata dropped the bucket he was carrying and pulled his katana from the obi tied at his waist.

"There's one of them."

Dimly, she realized the soldier was pointing his sword at her, but lost in her memory, she couldn't move as he ran toward her, sword raised to strike.

Blinking, she saw his sword begin its downward arc when suddenly another sword came in from her right and stopped it.

"She's mine," snarled a familiar voice. "Leave her to me."

Saitoh, her captor, shoved against the other soldier's sword, forcing him back a few steps. The man glanced at her one last time, then backed away.

Turning, he ran back to retrieve his bucket and went back to helping fight the fire.

It was too much. She dropped to her knees, hugged herself and began to rock. "Please no, not mother. Please." she whispered, still caught in the nightmare of memory.

o-o-o

Saitoh was beginning to think she'd never come out of the room. What was the attraction? His room wasn't exactly palatial.

Okita didn't complain, didn't say one word, didn't smirk or laugh. He just stayed behind Saitoh and waited patiently.

Finally, she appeared at the door on her knees.

Saitoh leaned back sharply as she looked his way, then eased his face back to the corner. She was across the porch now, dropping to the dirt and landing gracefully.

Yes, keep walking, across the path and to the wall.

Saitoh and Okita both tensed the moment they heard it. It was a crowd of rioters, coming closer.

Saitoh bit back a groan. Not now! Why did those stupid peasants have to pick tonight of all nights to riot? He had to protect the people of Kyoto, but he didn't have to like them.

First flaming arrows then torches came over the wall. The guards at the gate cried out for help. Leaving the temple's shadow, Saitoh and Okita raced toward them, yelling for reinforcements.

Okita wrenched open the gate and saw the crowd of maddened peasants outside. One of the guards was already bleeding from a head wound, probably from a thrown rock.

'Cowards.' thought Saitoh contemptuously, and then he and Okita were leaping forward as the crowd tried to surge in through the gates.

The two guards fanned out on either side, allowing their captains to engage the center. Saitoh sensed Okita duck under a swung hoe, then rise to execute his favorite three-pronged attack. Saitoh used his height to full advantage, slashing downward at his prey. The peasants in front saw their friends cut down and began to scrabble backward, but the men behind them kept yelling and pressing forward.

Saitoh's lip curled. If the cowards wished a path to escape, he'd gladly grant them one. He crouched into a low gattotsu stance and charged, taking out four men in his way, one after another. As their bodies fell, they created a corridor. Saitoh reversed his route and charged back, slashing side to side, which caused people on both his right and left to back away to avoid being cut.

Meanwhile, Okita's tennin rishin style attacks were thinning the crowd to Saitoh's left.

The panicking commoners in the front took advantage of their exit route and trampled over their fallen comrades' bodies just as reinforcements from the Shinsengumi barracks arrived. Saitoh stepped to the back of the wounded guard, and let them pass.

The rioters weren't trained swordsmen. There was nothing in the fight to interest him.

He grabbed the guard by the back of his haori coat and jerked.

"Go get your wound fixed." He growled in the man's ear, then released him so suddenly that the soldier nearly fell over.

"Hey, there's one of them!"

Saitoh turned at the shout. No one had gotten past him or Okita. He glared at the fool who suggested it, a yukata clad idiot with a bucket in his hand. Saitoh's eyes raked the area in front of the temple, but the only one there was the girl, staring mesmerized at the flaming arrows.

The idiot dropped his bucket, drew his sword and began running with it directly at the girl.

Being tall had its advantages. His length of stride more than made up for the head start the soldier had on him.

He lunged, blocking the idiot's blade easily. "She's mine, leave her to me." he snarled at the moron, whose stance was so bad that the mere flick of Saitoh's blade caused the fool to stumble back and retreat hurriedly.

Saitoh recognized him. It was one of Shinpachi's squad members. He made a mental note to remind Shinpachi to drill his men on their footwork more stringently.

He looked around, not seeing the girl at first and had the insane notion that she'd somehow slipped past him through the gate. Then he saw her, on her knees rocking and crying, staring at the burning sheds.

Saitoh cursed. One of the sheds served as the monks' bathhouse was burning merrily away. Yet another complaint would be lodged with Kondo against the Shinsengumi lodgers. At least this one wouldn't be his fault or responsibility. The bathhouse was a complete loss. The roof had already caved in and flames were licking the outer shell.

Okita and the other Shinsengumi members were wrapping up the pursuit beyond the front gate, so Saito wiped his sword and sheathed it. He walked over to the girl. She was muttering something about fire and her mother. He sighed. She was in no shape to make a break for it tonight.

He leaned over and picked her up, one arm going around her back and the other under her knees. Carrying her back to his room was getting to be a habit with him. Only this time she was conscious and clinging to his haori jacket like a limpet. She didn't let go even when he tried to drop her on the futon.

Bowing to the inevitable, and telling himself that he simply didn't want to have to mend his ripped haori jacket if he tried to dislodge her deathgrip on it, he turned his back to the wall and sat on the futon, leaving her in his lap.

In the quiet of his room he could finally make out the words she kept repeating. "Like before. It's just like before."

He glanced down at her profile. She had that same shocked look on her face that he'd often seen on the new recruits' faces when they first encountered a violent death.

"What is like before?" asked Saitoh calmly.

"The fire," she sobbed. Her words came out disjointedly, interspersed by hiccoughing sobs. "I came home. Grandpa was knocked out. I thought he was dead. I smelled smoke. Father's workshop. Fire. I screamed for help, but no one would come. Too scared. Couldn't find mother. Saw her obi on the ground by father's workshop. Fire was everywhere. Knew she was inside. Heard grandfather yell at me to stop, but I had to try to save her. She was there. On the floor. He'd…She was….He had…."

The sobs were getting stronger.

Saitoh kept his voice low, pacifying. "Who? Who did this?"

"Serizawa."

Even through her tears, he heard the abject horror in her voice.

"Grandfather wouldn't talk about it. But he dreams. He calls out for Serizawa to get out. It was Serizawa who stole our money and set the workshop on fire after he…my mother…."

She buried her head against his chest and cried some more.

Saitoh tightened his arms around her. He could imagine exactly what Serizawa had done to the mother, especially if she'd been pretty like her daughter. Serizawa had done it before.

Aku Soku Zan. For the millionth time Saitoh reminded himself why he didn't regret in the least having purged that madman from their ranks.

"What did you do next?" he asked softly.

"I tried to pull her out of the fire, but she wasn't moving. So much blood. She was dead, but I couldn't leave her! They had to pull me out."

"They who?"

"Grandfather and the oldest neighbor boy. He was too young to be afraid of the Shinsengumi."

Saitoh felt his face tighten. With dogs like Serizawa, no wonder the girl's neighbors had been afraid to help. Serizawa used to use his office to frighten anyone who dared to stand against him. Not that Saitoh minded a little fear if it bred respect for the law, but fear to enable the breaking of the law? That was true evil.

The girl definitely seemed to be over her fear of Saitoh, he reflected as he felt her tears dampen his newly laundered haori jacket, and her fingers crumple the front into a mass of wrinkles.

It was going to be a long night, he reflected as he settled his back more comfortably against the wall and prepared to wait her out as she cried herself to sleep.

END CHAPTER THREE

Larie-chan – You're welcome for the review. I'll try to update once a week so readers don't lose track of the story between chapters. Saitoh is one of my favorite characters as well. I hate it when authors make him OOC. He was strict, scary, and cynical, sure – but when the chips were down you can always depend on him to come down on the side of honor and justice.

Aymu-in-blue – Thanks for reviewing both chapters! The only reason I know so much about the Shinsengumi is because I got addicted to the weekly Japanese TV show "Shinsengumi!" on a local cable TV station. Well, that and reading Romulus Hillsborough's book "Samurai Sketches" and browsing some really good Shinsengumi websites. But I'm not obsessed, oh no, not me! Sorry about the Kamo/Kama typo error! I was going by a website's spelling of his name and I should have double-checked. I haven't got that far in the manga (are they ever going to release vol. 12 in English? And will the annoying Barnes and Noble by my house ever stock it?) and so I wasn't aware of how many Shinsengumi members were mentioned in RK. As for the Aizu reference, Matsudaira shows up in the TV series "Shinsengumi" quite a bit, and I'd also read in other sources that it was Aizu who tended to raise troops and police squads to support the shogun since they were such staunch allies of the Tokugawa. My story is definitely fluffy compared to my other RK one, but I'm finding historical accuracy is just something I can't shake. Occupational hazard I guess!

Lt.soniablade – More is on the way, and I'll be updating weekly.

Conspirator – No Okita/Tokio romance in this story, sorry! She feels more of a big-sisterly affection for him – she babysits in her spare time so she's used to feeling maternal and protective. Besides, the Okita of the "Trust and Betrayal" OAV may have been an excellent swordsman, but he was also cute as a button and short too! Definitely 'glomp'-able, but romance-able?

Kasifya – Saitoh in an apron! The mind positively boggles at THAT mental image! Sorry you're so busy cooking and cleaning – it can be a real pain at times. Saitoh is going to have his hands full even without housekeeping duties. (Mental image of Saitoh using his katana to dice vegetables super fast – scary!)

Misaoshiru – Olivia? I like it! It's much more alliterative than "Evil"! As for Tokio's stubbornness – I think you'd have to be to survive life with Saitoh!

BakaBokken – Sorry, no Saizou the pig in this story, I just couldn't fit him in. Plus the PMK version of Okita was way too girlish for my taste. I prefer Watsuki's OAV version of him! You're welcome for the review, and what's this about Shinpachi being your favorite? I must go re-watch PMK! Shinpachi was the spearman, right?

Lolo popoki – I think my muse is off catching rays in the Bahamas. Not to worry though, I'll still try to update once a week, but it may be a while between this story and the next one.

Lady Rhiyana – Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you liked the part where Saitoh thinks she's faking the faint. You've just got to love the ever-cynical mind of a Mibu Wolf!

Child of draco – I'm writing! I'm writing! Or at least posting. Saitoh is definitely "Hot" in a very cool and elegantly dangerous way of course!

Rkfan – I'm with you, I hate OOC versions of Saitoh and Okita! As for the romance, it's coming, but it will be understated. At present Saitoh is more wary of the girl than enamored of her.

Miburo kid – The fainting is really only from lack of food. A friend of mine fainted once after donating blood in a blood drive so I figured lack of food could cause it as well.


	4. Chapter Four

**A/N In case anyone is wondering about my author's note attached to chapter one, Wyrd DID get in touch with me and gave me the link to "Mecha" – which Wyrd posted under the name 'Wyrd Writere' on fictionpress 'dot' com. If you like sci-fi stories, go there and check it out!**

CHAPTER FOUR

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin characters or plot.

Okita allowed about three seconds to pass between scratching politely at the shoji screen door to let Saitoh know he was there, and pulling the screen open to pop his head in.

When Saitoh saw the look of surprised speculation as Okita took in the fact that he was still in his uniform with the girl draped across his lap, asleep, he decided then and there that he needed to get a lock for his door.

One glare from Saitoh stopped Okita from making any comment. He just stood in the doorway beaming happily like a lunatic while Saitoh carefully transferred the girl from his lap to the futon. She murmured a little in her sleep, but settled down when he pulled his hands carefully out from under her. As she nestled her face more comfortably against the blue futon, he caught sight of dried blood under her chin. She hadn't cleaned it, and perhaps wasn't even aware that it was there. But he'd seen it, and for some reason, it put him in a bad mood.

Okita simply backed out of the doorway, still grinning sunnily as Saitoh came out of his room glaring. Pulling the shoji screen shut behind him, Saitoh jerked his head towards the far end of the temple and led Okita down the porch, lengthening his stride so Okita had to skip to keep up. When he reached the end of the porch, Saitoh crossed his arms, sticking his hands in sleeves and turned to confront the younger captain.

"Did you get anything out of her?" asked Okita. The boy was no longer smiling with his mouth, but his eyes were dancing in a way that told Saitoh he was still amused by the scene in Saitoh's room.

"Some. Serizawa attacked her mother and burned her home."

Saitoh was pleased to see that his terse statement made the last of Okita's merriment flee. He went on to give what few details he'd gleaned from the sobbing girl. Serious now, Okita nodded at intervals, waiting until Saitoh was done. Then he spoke, slowly.

"So, she's after revenge?"

"No, theft." Saitoh's eyes narrowed slightly, remembering the girl's earlier outburst, and how shocked she'd been that she let a statement slip. "She said something about getting back an item that belonged to her."

"Serizawa stole a lot of things from a lot of people." Okita muttered, eyes cast downward. Serizawa's name still cast a pall on those Shinsengumi members who knew his deeds and his fate. However, Okita couldn't seem to remain sad for long. He lifted his face and asked the taller captain, "So what's her name?"

Saitoh was silent for a moment, then muttered a harsh oath under his breath. He knew he was forgetting something. When the girl started talking, he'd just let her words flow out as they came, only prompting her with soft questions whenever she seemed about to stop and give in to the grief that dogged her. It had been such a novel experience, protecting one single individual, holding her literally in his arms, instead of just protecting the massive population of Kyoto as a whole, that he'd forgotten to ask the most vital question of all.

With the large number of Serizawa's victims, just knowing that the man had attacked the girl's mother and burned her home, wouldn't make it any easier to find out her name. Saitoh doubted that the Shinsengumi knew half the things Serizawa had done when he'd used the Shinsengumi name as a shield for his extracurricular activities.

Okita hid a smile. Saitoh saw it and glowered. "Make sure she doesn't escape. I'm going to take a bath." He stomped to the edge of the porch and dropped to the ground, suddenly anxious to wash the smell of last night's smoke and blood off his body. He wished he could wash the problem of the girl away as easily.

o-o-o

Not long ago she'd felt safe and warm. She woke alone on top of the futon in the cold morning air. Saitoh hadn't covered her. Saitoh had…

Sitting up quickly, she glanced wildly about the room, her gaze stopping at the far wall, on the very spot where (unless she'd dreamt it) she'd poured out her heart and the worst memory of her life to her enemy.

An enemy who had cradled her in his arms and allowed her to cry all over him. She felt herself blushing furiously, and covered her face with her hands. What exactly had she said?

Where was Saitoh? Perhaps he'd tell her. Perhaps he hadn't been able to understand her words through all her sobbing. She lowered her hands from her face in hope, then slumped her shoulders dispiritedly as her memory came flooding back.

He'd asked questions of her in that calm, measured voice of his, and she'd answered. She remembered how his throat rumbled, his words vibrating against her forehead, which had lain against the crook of his shoulder and neck. She remembered which questions he'd asked too.

He hadn't asked her name.

What?

She ran her memory back over all the questions and realized it was true. While he'd definitely taken advantage of her talkative state, he hadn't asked the one question that would ruin her and her family's good name. Such restraint was incredible. She could hardly believe it, yet it was true. He was a Shinsengumi, one of the Wolves of Mibu. Wasn't he supposed to be ruthless?

She had to find him, to talk to him. Crawling over to the shoji screen, she pulled it open a few inches.

"Ah, you're awake at last!"

Okita, the Shinsengumi captain, was sitting in seza position at the edge of the porch outside Saitoh's room. He was dressed in the distinctive blue and white haori coat and dark hakama trousers the Shinsengumi wore as their uniform. His sword lay on the porch parallel to his body next to his side. The sun fell at an angle under the porch and illuminated his face. The smile he turned on her was almost as blinding as its rays.

She stared at him in silence for a moment. How could anyone be so chipper at this hour of the morning? How on earth did his fellow Shinsengumi stand it? She preferred to start her day calmly and quietly, not with this hyperactive cheerfulness.

"Good morning." she said at last.

Okita's hand dropped toward his sword and she instinctively tensed up. Not seeming to notice her reaction, Okita reached over the sword and snagged a scrap of cloth lying next to the sword. He lifted it and held it out to her.

"Here," he said, leaning forward a bit closer so she wouldn't have to move so far out of the doorway to reach it. "You dropped this before."

Hesitantly, her hand reached out and grasped the edge of the cloth trailing from his fingers. It was her hair ribbon.

She took it in her hand and stared at it, her eyes suddenly blurring with tears. She swallowed them back.

"Thank you." she muttered, blinking hard.

"Am I forgiven then?" asked Okita hopefully.

Forcing her mouth into a smile, she willed her tears away. "Yes. I forgive you. You can't help what you are, I suppose." She looked down at the material in her hand. Her fingers clenched the ribbon. It had been a gift from her mother. She'd been wearing it the day her mother died. "Any more than I can help what I am." she whispered softly.

"And that is…?" Okita was still leaning forward. He'd heard her last remark.

She lifted her head up and smiled, genuinely this time. "I'm not going to make it that easy for you."

So, she really hadn't told Saitoh her name. If she had, Okita wouldn't be fishing for it now. She glanced past him. "Where is Saitoh-san?"

She glanced back and noticed Okita studying her gently. "You like him don't you?" he asked, smiling.

Blushing, she straightened her spine. "Of course not!"

Okita's smile widened. She hurriedly began to pull her hair back, and attempt to tie it with the ribbon, but the tangled mass refused to obey.

"Here." Okita rose up on his knees and reached into his sleeve to pull out a comb. Instead of giving it to her, however, he walked around on his knees and settled behind her.

The boy then proceeded to gently comb out the tangles in her hair. She blinked in confusion and prepared to wince, but Okita held her hair firmly with one hand so it wouldn't pull on her scalp as he teased out the snarls with the comb in his other hand. He tied her hair back with the ribbon, and continued to brush out the ponytail.

"How do you know how to…?" she began.

Okita laughed. "I have a sister at home."

"So that village of yours wasn't a lie, was it?" Okita had mentioned his sister with a mixture of awe and admiration when he'd told her stories about his family.

"No, sometimes I wish my sister was though – she's a very scary woman!" Okita said in a laughing voice. He bent his head over her hair to concentrate on a tangle, and she laughed with him.

It was pleasant sitting in the sun allowing someone else to brush her hair. The floorboards vibrated beneath her as the porch reacted to heavy footsteps making their way closer. Okita's hands faltered on her hair as a shadow fell over her.

She looked up and saw Saitoh glaring down at her.

o-o-o

Saitoh returned from his bath to find Okita sitting on the porch outside of his room with his hands wrapped in the girl's hair.

Grabbing the girl by the arm, he hauled her to her feet, dragged her around Okita, and pushed her into his room. The last image he had before shoving the shoji screen closed was of Okita, comb still in his hand, staring at Saitoh with his mouth in an 'O' of astonishment.

He fought to gather his emotions as he stared at the shoji screen before turning around to face her. What was wrong with him? He returned from the bathhouse down the street to find Okita making her laugh and he'd felt…proprietary? Well, she was his prisoner after all, not Okita's.

This had gone on long enough. The woman was ruining his peace of mind. He'd get the rest of the information he needed from her to make his report, then he'd personally escort her home, and deliver her to her grandfather.

Then he'd indulge himself by delivering to that grandfather a blistering lecture about keeping women at home where they'd be safe and protected. Not that it had done her mother any good. Remembering that contradiction only served to make him angrier.

He whirled around to face her. "Talk." He snarled at her.

She'd landed on the futon right where he'd aimed her when he pushed her through the doorway.

The girl lifted her chin. "No."

Saitoh crossed his arms, and remembered Okita mentioning the girl's preoccupation with her family's honor.

"Do you have any idea what will happen to your reputation if it becomes known that you spent two nights alone in a compound full of men?"

Saitoh was quite pleased with this tactic. Women all wanted to get married. "Talk now so you can go home and get a husband before anyone finds out that you were here." That ought to get to her.

The girl bit her lip, stricken, and lowered her head. Saitoh's heart soared in triumph, until he heard her next words.

"I'll never marry." she said softly.

"What did you say?" asked Saitoh incredulously. Not get married? What sort of a woman didn't want to get married?

"I can't get married. I'm…marred."

Saitoh's breath caught in his throat. She didn't mean…She couldn't mean that…?

If Serizawa had touched her, Saitoh resolved to march down to the cemetery, find Serizawa's funeral urn, spit in it, then break it to tiny pieces and stomp all over the ashes before laying a curse his grandmother had taught him on Serizawa's soul. He forced his voice to go low and calm, the way it had the night before, and kept all trace of what he was feeling out of it. "What do you mean?"

Head still down, the girl raised her left hand, and grasped the sleeve covering her right hand. Slowly, she pulled the fabric back toward her armpit, baring her right arm. Then she bent her elbow and raised her right arm so the underside of her forearm was tilted toward him. A broad swath of mottled scar tissue ran across her arm from the tip of the elbow in a band extending about four inches up the arm, terminating right before the bluish veins of her lower wrist.

"A support beam fell on me during the fire. It was burning, and it pinned me to the floor. No man would want a woman who is scarred." she told him sadly.

Saitoh stared at her in frank astonishment. Was she serious? He leaned down a bit and caught a glimpse of her face. He saw from the shame on her expression and her downcast eyes that she actually believed that nonsense.

"Hmph!" he snorted loudly, allowing his contempt for such foolishness to show in his voice.

It worked. The girl's head shot up and she stared at him astonishment.

"Call that a scar?" Saitoh sneered at her arm. "I'll show you scars." He turned his back to her and raised his hands to his gi top, yanking it down over his shoulders to show her his back. He'd seen it before, in a mirror. He knew full well the number of white bands criss-crossing in layers across his back. "THESE are scars." he growled.

There wasn't a sound from the girl. Curious, looked over his shoulder and saw her staring wide-eyed with shock, lips parted in a gasp. Then her arm lowered slowly and her hand reached out hesitantly, as if she wanted to touch his scars to be sure that they were real.

The thought of her fingertips touching his bare back set some interesting and inappropriate thoughts scurrying through his mind. Stamping down on those thoughts furiously, he yanked his top back up over his shoulders and rounded on her, ready to blast her with more words, but she beat him to it.

"Who did that to you?"

Was that…anger in her voice? Saitoh shook off the thought, and answered. "A corrupt Kyoto magistrate. They thought I had some information on the yakuza. That was their excuse anyway. They really just wanted to embarrass bureau chief Kondo by connecting me with the yakuza." His lip curled in a sneer at the memory.

"You didn't tell them anything, did you?"

"No." Saitoh answered, looking at her.

The girl gazed up at him, eyes gleaming with…no, could that be…admiration?

She gestured shyly to the one decoration in the room, his 'Aku Soku Zan' wall scroll. "I knew it. I saw that and I just knew you were an honorable man." As Saitoh watched, flabbergasted, she straightened her spine and pulled her sleeve back down. "I too shall be honorable and protect my family name, as you protected the honor of the Shinsengumi."

Saitoh felt like beating his head against the wall, but he was made of sterner stuff than that. He wasn't about to allow a little setback like that distract him. He would try again.

"What about marriage?" he countered. "That puny little scar of yours won't stop some man from wanting to marry you."

Now why did that thought make him want to go hunt down and kill the hypothetical prospective bridegroom?

The girl looked at the floor again. "That's not my only scar." She confided softly. "The beam fell diagonally across me. My arm kept it off my neck, but it also lay across my stomach and down my side." She laid her left arm across her torso to show him the path the beam had scored into her, gripping the top of her gi with her fingertips.

She blushed. "I, er, can't show you like you showed me."

It was at this incredibly inopportune moment that Okita poked his head in the door, those quick knowing eyes of his going from the blushing girl, her hand tangled in the neckline of her gi, to Saitoh, who was hideously aware of the disheveled neckline of his own hastily yanked up gi.

"Saitoh-san. I thought you should know. Kondo and Hijikata have returned.

END CHAPTER FOUR

Note to reviewers:

Lolo popoki – Yeah, I couldn't resist letting her fall asleep in Saitoh's arms – he's such a softie at heart, though he'd rather die than admit it.

Larie-chan – Don't even worry about your story having a similar scene to mine. It's not like I can lay claim to the "Fire-As-A-Dramatic-Plot-Device" ploy. Charlotte Bronte beat me to it in her novel, "Jane Eyre" as did Daphne Du Maurier in her "Rebecca". Go for it! Let me know when it's posted, I'd love to read it! Oh, and I'd love to buy cookies of inspiration from the muses, but I'm afraid the Girl Scouts beat them to it (thinks ruefully of the three boxes of Thin Mints residing in her freezer, and the amount of calories they represent)

Crazed fan – I accept all compliments with out without exclamation points, so thank you kindly! I hope you get your keyboard fixed soon!

The Otaku Kitty – I'm glad you liked the content and organization. I'll keep updating once a week. And…er…meow meow right back at you!

Miburo Kid – Good guess! As I'm sure you've read in chapter four, someone does indeed pop in on them, and of course it's Okita – never one to let a chance to tease Saitoh pass him by.

Menolly Harper – Glad you're liking the story! Your friend nearly spit her drink out because you like Saitoh? How could anyone NOT like someone who destroys evil instantly, loves soba noodles and is the quintessence of coolness? He's Heathcliff, Mr. Darcy, and Wolverine rolled into one droolworthy package!

LadyWater2010 – I'm honored you chose my story to be the first Saitoh fic you've ever read. There are a lot of really good ones out there too.

The Otaku Kitty – Hey, you've got a Saitoh plushie? Where did you get it? I want one too!

Wyrd – Thanks so much for the link to your story! I'm glad you're liking this one, despite the reference to the truly evil Serizawa – yes the historical Serizawa really was that nasty. He was pretty much a serial rapist and probably had syphilis which made him prone to uncontrollable rages. Saitoh did 'kick out' one of the Shinsengumi members in a very lethal manner. Takeda Kanryu (Watsuki modeled his evil businessman character who coerced Megumi into making opium off this guy), the leader of the fifth squad of the Shinsengumi had been cosying up to Satsuma so Hijikata and Kondo ordered Saitoh and Shinohara to off him. Which they did. I'm glad you like Okita. I'm trying to make him as close to the OAV version as possible, including the sunny smile and his penchant for poking fun at Saitoh and refusing to be intimidated by him.

LegolasEstelstar – Glad you like the story so far! I'm having fun with Saitoh and Tokio – especially Tokio since I can pretty much make her however I want her to be since she's only mentioned in the anime.

Baka Bokken – Oh yes, Saitoh is becoming quite protective, though he won't admit it even to himself. Thanks for clearing up the spearman confusion. So Shinpachi is the short red-head? I thought that was Tetsu – the main character! Argh! I really have to rewatch Peacemaker Kurogane – especially since I may be loaning it to a friend soon and won't have it on hand!

Senaca – Welcome! Glad you liked the first three chapters and characters. I'll try to keep them IN character as much as possible.

Kai himitsu - I'm glad you liked the cliffhanger in chapter one. Thanks for the 'uniqueness' comment and for letting me know that your story was done. I keep forgetting to use 'Author Alert'!


	5. Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

A/N: Last chapter and denoument. Saitoh is about to face the music.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin characters or plot.

"Kondo-san and Hijikata-san want to see you. They asked you to bring the girl with you." Okita said, sending a reassuring smile at the girl sitting on Saitoh's futon.

It didn't work. Saitoh noticed that she paled and clutched tighter to the neckline of her gi. He could see her neck muscles tighten in fear.

"Get up." Saitoh told her abruptly, and shrugged his own gi and haori coat more firmly about his shoulders, straightening the lapel area with a flick of his fingers.

The girl obeyed, rising slowly to stand with her head bowed, hands down at her side, eyes glancing wildly about the room like a trapped animal desperate for escape.

Okita nodded at Saitoh and backed out of the doorway. Saitoh paused to let the girl precede him, until he realized that she hadn't noticed. He stepped up to her and placed his hand flat against the middle of her back, shoving gently and forcing her to take a step forward.

It broke her out of the spell of fear that kept her frozen in place, and she flashed him a brief look of gratitude before moving out of the room.

Now it was Saitoh's turn to be struck immobile.

Gratitude?

Did the silly girl not realize that Saitoh was her enemy? Whoever let that girl out of the house without a keeper ought to be taken out and beheaded. Saitoh took a long step forward and made it out the door quickly so Okita wouldn't realize he'd paused. He could only hope that the observant young samurai hadn't seen that look the girl had flashed him, or he'd never hear the end of it.

But Okita didn't say a word as he led them up the porch and around the corner of the temple building to the front entrance. Saitoh groaned silently to himself. So Kondo and Hijikata were going to face him in the temple's grandiose main audience hall. They only did that when they wanted to intimidate or impress on their prey the gravity of the situation.

Okita paused by the temple's main doors. They were thick wood, studded with metal starbursts. Saitoh gritted his teeth and stepped forward, but Okita turned and leaned his back against the doors, smiling gently. "I'll just go tell them you're here," he said, turning back around to pull one of the doors open. "Oh and you're to wait here, Saitoh. They said they wanted to question the girl first." he threw the words over his shoulder as he disappeared into the gloom beyond the doors.

Saitoh's eyes narrowed dangerously. Exactly what had the boy told Hijikata and Kondo to make them want to interview the girl separately? It was times like these that he really hated the fact that Kondo, Hijikata, and Okita had all trained under the same tennin rishi master and were friends long before Saitoh joined the Shinsengumi.

The girl was staring at the closed temple doors rather like a mouse into the eyes of a snake about to strike. She was trembling.

Saitoh found it irritating.

"Don't tell Hijikata that you thought he was Serizawa." he growled suddenly.

The girl jumped and looked at him. "What?"

Saitoh crossed his arms and stared at her, debating what to say next. It wasn't as if she couldn't keep a secret if she wanted. He decided to give her one of the Shinsengumi's most closely guarded secrets since it did, after all, affect her.

"Hijikata is the one who gave the order to have Serizawa killed for breaking the honor code. He won't appreciate being mistaken for him."

A look of wonder crossed her face. "He gave the order…? Then who killed him?"

Saitoh smiled his most wolfish grin. "Aku Soku Zan."

The wonder on the girl's face turned into shining adoration. "I knew it," she breathed.

The door opened and Okita came out. "They're ready for you." He said to the girl, and pushed the door open wider. She swallowed, lifted her chin, and walked calmly over the threshold.

Saitoh smirked to himself. At least the girl looked better with a little fire in her eyes than white-faced and trembling. Take that, Kondo-san!

Minutes passed as Saitoh glared at the closed wooden doors. More minutes passed. Then Okita stepped out, pulling the door softly shut behind him, and came to stand in front of Saitoh.

"Well, aren't you going to ask how its going?" he asked, gazing up at the taller captain, boyish mischief in his eyes.

"No." growled Saitoh.

Okita leaned back against the door. "I'll tell you anyway," he offered.

Saitoh snorted. Of course he would. It was, after all, the sole reason Okita came outside. Saitoh had already guessed what was going on inside.

Without waiting for a response, Okita continued. "She's not telling them anything." Okita sounded almost proud of her. "Oh, she's very polite, and she keeps apologizing, but she won't tell them her name, or even the name of her great-grandfather or the Han he came from."

Saitoh concentrating on keeping his expression forbidding, fighting the urge to smile. At least she was consistent.

There was a commotion at the gate.

Saitoh tensed and saw that Okita had also turned to look.

An old man stood squarely in the center of the open gateway, glaring at the young guards confronting him on either side. His hair was a mix of black threaded with iron grey. He wore faded brown hakama and a gi with small white and blue stripes. The hilt of a sword stuck out of the obi circling his waist. He stood feet apart, arms crossed, staring straight ahead.

When he spoke to answer the guards, he kept his gaze forward on the temple. Saitoh had the curious notion that the man was staring at him. The guards' voices and gestures became increasingly frustrated.

The old man raised his voice suddenly. "I demand to speak to the person in charge."

The words rang out across the temple grounds.

Okita bounded lightly down the steps and made his way to the gate.

Saitoh watched as Okita spoke to the trio for a moment, then deftly extricated the old man from the guards and led him up the steps of the temple, stopping in front of Saitoh.

The boy bowed to the old gentleman, then politely addressed Saitoh in a carefully bland tone of voice.

"This gentleman wishes to report that his granddaughter is missing. It seems she was last seen by a neighbor boy loitering in front of our headquarters a few days ago."

Saitoh managed to keep a wolfish grin from appearing on his face as Okita continued. "Perhaps we could ask Bureau Chief Kondo what to do?" he asked, eyes dancing mischievously in contrast to his steady, politely indifferent tone.

Saitoh's eyes lit up. At last, a way to redeem himself in front of Kondo. The missing information in his report on the girl's break-in was standing right in front of him, staring challengingly out of old, but clearly intelligent brown eyes, so like the girl's.

He nodded curtly at Okita. "Agreed."

Sometimes the boy surprised him. He didn't know what Okita's motives were for helping him, but at this point he really didn't care. He'd grasp the opportunity and worry about motives later.

"Please come this way." Saitoh said, bowing smartly to the girl's grandfather, before turning and pushing open the temple doors. He stepped through and held the door for the older man, who gave him a hard, appraising look before stepping across the threshold.

"Thank you." said the old man, his tone a mix of suspicion and brusque acknowledgement of polite conventions.

Eyes already scanning the temple hall as he'd entered, Saitoh was gratified to see the girl's back stiffen at the sound of the old man's voice. She was sitting demurely, legs tucked under her, on the tatami mat in front of Kondo and Hijikata. Both of them were seated on a low dais in front of the temple's grand alter, which rose majestically behind them in a cloud of incense generated from the incense sticks burning on either side.

Saitoh smirked briefly at the obvious state management. The alter behind the Shinsengumi's leaders was supposed to imply divine authority backing up their judgment. The elevated dais was to remind the poor supplicant of Kondo and Hijikata's elevated position. Even the men's body language, arms crossed, backs stiff like disapproving parents, only served to make whoever had been called on the mat feel like a recalcitrant child.

As Saitoh walked forward into the audience hall, the girl threw her upper body onto the floor into a low bow. Saitoh was surprised he didn't hear her forehead crash into the tatami mat, so quickly did she duck down. She stayed that way, immobile, face pressed against the mat as Saitoh led the old man past her and they both knelt in front of her, before the dais. Saitoh noticed that the old man barely registered her presence, his attention solely on Hijikata and Kondo, the obvious leaders of the Shinsengumi.

"Saitoh. What is the meaning of this?" Kondo asked.

Bowing in mock obeisance, Saitoh straightened and replied, "I believe this gentleman has a report vital to the matter at hand." He met Kondo's sharp, searching gaze impassively.

At last Kondo's eyes slipped from him to the old man, and the bureau chief gestured to the man, giving him permission to speak.

"My name is Tsutomu Takagi." The old man's voice was gravelly with age, yet strong and determined. "I wish to report my granddaughter's disappearance."

Kondo's eyes touched briefly on a spot behind Saitoh where the girl sat like a stone. From the lack of movement, Saitoh figured that her face was still pressed into the mat, though he didn't turn to look.

It was a momentary glance, then Kondo focused his considerable attention on Tsutomu again. "Why not go to the magistrate or to the city police patrols? Why come to us?"

"You're supposed to protect Kyoto, aren't you?" growled Tsutomu.

"You sound as though you have reason to doubt our protection." observed Hijikata.

Saitoh smirked. Oh yes, Okita had definitely told Hijikata and Kondo everything they knew of the girl. How like Hijikata to use the information to pretend he could read the old man's thoughts from his voice alone.

To his credit, Tsutomu didn't seem fazed by Hijikata's comment at all.

"I should. Your ex-captain Serizawa Kamo stole all my money and some very valuable ink drawings from my family."

Hijikata and Kondo exchanged a look, then Kondo spoke. "I ask you again, why come to us, especially knowing that?"

Tsutomu gave a harsh laugh. "I heard recently that Serizawa died."

There was a faint scratching noise from behind Saitoh, as if the girl's hands were clenched against the tatami mat. The old man, not noticing, went on.

"I figured the Shinsengumi might actually start protecting the people of Kyoto instead of terrorizing them now that Serizawa is gone. Besides," the old man's voice grew hard. "My granddaughter was last seen near here, in the street outside your headquarters. My neighbor's boy saw her. She's obsessed with those missing drawings of her father's. Keeps asking me what they looked like. I figured she'd struck up her courage and come here asking after them. So. Was she here or not?"

Kondo's eyes narrowed. "These drawings, what did they look like?"

Tsutomu harrumphed, clearly seeing the question as a distraction, but answered it anyway. "They were the last four panels of a twelve panel set that the daimyo of Kii was having made for the shogun. My son already made a similar six panel set for the emperor."

The old man's voice unconsciously softened with pride. "The daimyo saw them and sought out my son to ask him to make a set of panels to use as a gift. He planned to give them to the shogun over time, so my son sold the pieces in sets of four. Kii already presented the first two sets to the shogun, and he would have given a lot of money to be able to complete the gift set."

"What was the subject of the pictures?" asked Kondo softly.

"Yoritomo Minomoto's life. We found the pictures after my son died, and decided to keep them." Tsutomu answered impatiently. "The daimyo never knew my son finished them. If he did he'd have insisted on buying them."

Again Kondo and Hijikata exchanged a glance, then Hijikata spoke. "I have seen such pictures. Serizawa had them in his possession, but he sold them shortly before he died."

Yes, in order to buy a silk kimono for his mistress, O-ume. Saitoh remembered the incident. If all Serizawa got out of it was one silk kimono, he obviously didn't have a clue what the pictures were really worth. Greedy fool.

Tsutomu snorted. "I do not care about the paintings," he reminded them icily. "I'm here about my granddaughter. Now have you seen her?" He bit out the words of the last sentence harshly, like bullets from the French rifles the shogunate army was beginning to use.

"I believe we can help you with that." Kondo said after a pause.

The old man lifted his chin and waited expectantly.

Kondo uncrossed his arms and raised a pointed finger dramatically at the girl seated behind the old man on the tatami mat.

Already anticipating Kondo's response, Saitoh was watching the girl and saw her raise her upper body from the mat slowly and place her hands on her knees. "Hello grandfather." she said sheepishly.

The old man twisted around to look behind him. His eyes lit up with joy.

"Granddaughter!" he cried, then coughed to hide his emotion. His voice grew stern. "Where have you been?"

"Here." She gestured vaguely around the temple.

Tsutomu stared at her, and she blanched and began to squirm.

Tsutomu Takagi turned back to look at Kondo and Hijikata, his voice thick with outrage. "Do you mean to tell me that my granddaughter was kept in a compound full of men, dressed in those clothes, without a female chaperone for two nights?"

Now it was Kondo and Hijikata's turn to squirm. "I assure you, no liberties were taken with your granddaughter. I mean to say, she was not touched in any…er."

Saitoh watched in amazement as Kondo began to blush, and he a married man too! Hijikata took a sudden interest in the temple's architecture and studied the side wall as if examining it for structural damage.

"Where," asked Tsutomu in a dangerously soft voice, "Did my granddaughter sleep at night?"

Kondo's mouth opened and closed like a fish. He glanced over at Hijikata, who met his gaze and shrugged.

"I can answer that." came Okita's voice from the doorway of the temple. He walked inside past the girl and bowed quickly, straightening and standing at attention. "She slept in Saitoh-san's room." he said with a smile.

All eyes turned to Saitoh.

This was NOT happening. Saitoh narrowed his eyes and glared at Okita, who simply gave his usual sunny grin. Why was it that women and brats never seemed to develop a proper fear of him?

"Is this true?" asked Kondo.

"Yes." growled Saitoh, then shut his lips in a thin line, refusing to elaborate or defend himself.

"Alone?" asked Kondo, incredulity warring with hope in his tone.

Saitoh glared again at Okita, remembering how the boy had walked in that morning and seen the girl asleep in Saitoh's arms.

Not that anything had happened, but Saitoh knew that the snippy young puppy would happily make it sound that something had if he thought it would make his day more entertaining. Saitoh refused to demean himself by giving anything other than the bare truth.

"No." he told Kondo. "I was there too."

He felt, rather than heard the girl's indrawn breath and saw her grandfather glance behind Saitoh at the girl, then back at Saitoh again. Then he ignored Saitoh completely and allowed his gaze to linger on his granddaughter.

Saitoh hoped to Buddha and all the gods in the Shinto pantheon that the girl didn't have that asinine look of hero worship on her face again. Kami help her, she probably thought his honesty was honorable, and not a necessity resulting from Okita's presence in the room.

A disturbingly calculating expression crossed the old man's face as he turned back around to face Kondo.

"My granddaughter's honorable reputation has been damaged beyond repair. She has been alone with a man under your roof. What do you intend to do about it?"

A look passed between Tsutomu and Kondo. It was a look that made Saitoh incredibly nervous, especially when the sides of Kondo's mouth twitched up for a second in a faint smile.

"I understand the problem," said Kondo gravely, "But please understand our position as well. Your granddaughter broke into our headquarters to look for her father's drawings, but in doing so, she went through some highly secret Shinsengumi documents. We will have to keep her under close watch to be sure she does not accidentally pass the information on to our enemies. To that end, I must assign a Shinsengumi member to guard her. Her reputation and our secrets must both be protected."

"And do you have a solution to this problem?" asked Tsutomu, with both a challenge and a smile in his voice.

"Of course." Kondo inclined his head and stuck his hands in his sleeves, resting them across his chest. "It is the same solution I would expect, no, demand, if it were my daughter in a similar predicament."

Saitoh felt his heart drop. No. This could not be happening. His eyes widened as he stared at Kondo. Hijikata, sitting next to the bureau chief, could barely keep himself from snickering as the words Saitoh was now expecting to hear, fell from Kondo's lips.

"Saitoh Hajime must marry your granddaughter."

Saitoh's earlier urge to bang his head against the wall returned tenfold.

"What say you, Saitoh-san?" Kondo's voice asked silkily.

All eyes on the room were once again upon Saitoh, but he found that only one set of eyes really mattered to him at that point. He twisted his upper body and looked back towards the girl he was being asked, no, ordered to marry.

Look at her, staring at him with such an expression of anxious hope. She was biting her lip. Silly girl, she looked about to draw blood.

Oh she was pretty enough, and pleasingly curved too. He remembered that from the many times he'd carried her in his arms. He remembered also the way he'd claimed her out loud when that fool of Shinpachi's tried to slice her, and the way he'd felt seeing Okita's hands on her hair. He'd never had the chance to see her other scars, and if he didn't marry her, he never would.

Yes! The scars.

He'd marry her if only to prove himself right, that a real man wouldn't care about her being scarred. Besides, he was absolutely sure that his scars were still more numerous and impressive than hers. This was a perfect chance to prove it to her once and for all.

There was only one piece of information missing before he'd give them what they wanted. He turned his gaze sharply to her grandfather, who stared back hard, without giving an inch. He was a tough old bird, challenging the Mibu wolves in their den single-handedly. The girl obviously came from sound stock.

Saitoh kept his voice low, and gratingly polite. "May I at least know the name of the woman I'm to marry?" he asked, and had the satisfaction of watching the old man's jaw slacken in shock. A smirk crossed Saitoh's lips. So the old man hadn't realized that she'd refused to tell them her name. Her own grandfather had underestimated her. Saitoh snorted to himself. That was one mistake he'd never make about his bride to be.

o-o-o

She thought she would die of embarrassment when Saitoh led her grandfather into the temple's audience hall. Her first instinct was to hide, so she'd plonked her hands on the mat by her knees and bowed low over them, twitching her head so her ponytail, which Okita had unthinkingly tied high on the crown of her head like a samurai's topknot, fell over the side of her face facing her grandfather.

She kept her face pressed against the mat for so long that she wondered if the tatami would leave a pattern in the flesh of her forehead. She wondered if they'd notice if she started crawling for the door, then dismissed the thought.

Saitoh was sitting in front of her. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'd sense any move she made almost before she made it. He was perceptive that way, perceptive, and honorable, and he'd avenged her mother's death for her. He was strong, and brave and everything she wished that she could be.

Saitoh would never try to burrow into a tatami mat to hide from trouble, so when the inevitably discovery happened, she lifted her body up and greeted her grandfather as normally as she could.

She couldn't help but blush when her grandfather brought up the fact that she'd been un-chaperoned while in the custody of the Shinsengumi. She wanted to tell her grandfather that she hadn't been hurt or scared, but honesty compelled her to realize that she had been, but she'd gotten over it when she realized the sort of man Saitoh was.

He was honorable, not evil. His method could be uncomfortable and scary, but she trusted him more than anyone on the planet besides her grandfather.

When he answered his bureau chief's question honestly, she'd gasped in admiration. The truth made him look bad, and he allowed it, even though Saitoh was the opposite of bad.

Later when she realized Saitoh was being forced into marrying her, her heart skipped a beat.

Yes. This is what she wanted, a man who told her that the ugly scars on her body didn't matter, someone who didn't mind holding her in his arms as she cried, someone exactly like Saitoh.

But did he want her back? She bit her lip as she waited for his answer.

"May I at least know the name of the woman I'm to marry?"

She blinked as his words penetrated her brain and entered her consciousness. Did he actually say 'woman he was to marry'? He WAS going to marry her!

"Tokio." She said shyly, before her grandfather could answer. "My name is Tokio."

"Tokio." He repeated. "It is a good name." His eyes gleamed with a hint of a smile that he'd surprised her grandfather with his question.

She felt her mouth bend in an answering smile. That was when she knew that despite their strange, two-day courtship, this was a marriage that would last.

THE END

A/N: For all youhistorians out there – yes, I realize Tokio Takagi was actually the daughter of a daimyo, not a paper merchant. I also realize that Saitoh was not part of the Shinsengumi squad who were sent to kill Serizawa Kamo, though he did kill Takeda Kanryuu for violating the code. I take full responsibility for bendingthe facts to fit the story instead of vice-versa.

Note to reviewers:

Redskin – Glad you liked the scar scene – it was fun to write!

Miburo Kid – Panic? Saitoh? Just because he was caught in a compromising situation? Perish the thought! The Mibu Wolf knows exactly what he should do, he just needs a slight…SHOVE…in the right direction, courtesy of Okita. Thanks for all your comments, I've enjoyed them!

Jecir – I don't know about my story being brilliant, but I know I had a lot of fun writing it. I'm just glad you liked it!

Swirly – You're right, Souji is completely kawaii. I think deep down Saitoh views him as a friend rather than a persistent brat, but admit that out loud? Never!

The Otaku Kitty – You've got plushies of all the cute bishounen guys? I'm jealous! Thanks for all your nice reviews!

Senaca – To answer your question about Okita either wanting to pick a fight with Saitoh or admit Tokio has gotten under his skin, I'd have to say that he just wants Saitoh to at long last fall in love. That way Okita will have even more opportunities to tease him. Okita thinks Saitoh is too serious for his own good.

Finick01 – Sorry to end the story right after you found it! You're too kind, and I hope you like the way it ended.

Larie-chan – Yep, that's our over-protective Wolf of Mibu! He barely scratched her, but he manages to feel guilty about it, which translates into irritation. As for Tokio, the real Tokio bore the real Saitoh Hajime sons. My Tokio just thinks she's too ugly because of her scars to ever get married. Have your muses send some cookies my way once they get them back from the Girl Scouts! I'm chocolate deprived!

WolfDaughter – Okita is definitely enjoying making trouble for Saitoh, and I can just imagine his comments once Saitoh is a newlywed!

Wyrd – Glad you liked the hair-brushing scene! You're welcome for the plug for your story – everyone should read it! Let me know when you post again (I don't have a FictionPress account so I can't get "Author Alerts" from it). As for who you should write about next, I vote for Libra! I'd love to see a cute romance develop between her and Sagittarius – he deserves someone kind and sweet after enduring Klaus's tormenting!

Conspirator – I've had loads of fun cracking Saitoh's icy exterior. Thanks for reading my silly story, I'm honored! Hope the ending didn't disappoint – I stink at endings!

Random baka – You're right, Saitoh is completely jealous, he just can't admit it! I decided to end the story at chapter five, so no more sword fights – sorry! Though your idea about a confrontation between the Ishin Shishi and Shinsengumi and Tokio having to nurse him back to health was intriguing! If I ever do a sequel I'll have to use it, or better yet, why don't you write it? I'm sure you'd do it better justice than I ever could!

Lolo popoki – I've had fun pushing and shoving Saitoh into a situation where he HAS to marry Tokio since the silly man is just too darned stubborn to come right out and admit he cares for her. As for what Okita was thinking when he interrupted their conversation…I'll leave that to your imagination!

Misaoshiru – Don't worry about not reviewing chapter 3, I'm just glad to hear from you! I too sometimes read stories and forget to review. Sorry, no Kenshin in this one, I think I hurt my brain when I did all that research for "The Choshu Chronicles" so the thought of researching any more makes me want to whimper and run away. Maybe someday I'll continue where "The Choshu Chronicles" left off…

Keirin-sama – I posted again! I hope it was quickly enough! I had fun writing the part about Saitoh wanting to curse Serizawa – the real Serizawa certainly deserved it!

Ladywater2010 – You're so sweet to say that! Hope you liked the ending – I have a tough time writing them!

AyukaRyou – I hope you finish your story someday! Thanks for reviewing, and I hope Kondo and Hijikata's reaction pleased you!

Lady Rhiyana – Glad you liked the terseness in "The Choshu Chronicles" – it seemed to fit the angst-driven storyline. I'm finding humor is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but it's much less emotionally taxing. To answer your question, I wasn't thinking about the Crocodile Dundee movie when I wrote the part about the scars, I actually was thinking of one of the Mel Gibson "Lethal Weapon" movies where Mel's character has a 'who has the most scars' competition with his female co-star. I figured Saitoh wouldn't know how to comfort Tokio – sensitivity may be part of his emotional makeup, but showing it in the usual way would go against the grain – so he'd try to get her mind off it by getting competitive. I'm just glad it worked. Thanks for your insightful and encouraging reviews!

Fearna – I love Saitoh too! There used to be a really good website/shrine on him called 'Mibu no Ookami' but it appears to be gone now. If you liked my story, you might like "Falling" by L.Sith as well, it's really funny!

Child of Draco - Nice to hear from you! I've updated as you requested. Hope you like the ending.


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